Screen afm day 2

Screen afm day 2

DA Y
2
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7 2013
TODAY
AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET
SCREENINGS
www.ScreenDaily.com
Editorial +1 310 922 5908
Advertising +1 213 447 5120
» Page 38
DIRECTED BY
FRÉDÉRIC AUBURTIN
SUITE # 827
ALTITUDE FILM SALES AFM 2013 LINE-UP
SPOOKS: THE GREATER GOOD
Director: BHARAT NALLURI Genre: ACTION / THRILLER Cast: TBC
AFM SCREENINGS
BEYOND THE EDGE 3D
BROADWAY CINEPLEX 2 - NOVEMBER 8 / 09:00 BROADWAY CINEPLEX 2 - NOVEMBER 9 / 17:00
THE HOOLIGAN FACTORY
AMC SANTA MONICA 6 - NOVEMBER 9 / 15:00 AMC SANTA MONICA 7 - NOVEMBER 10 / 09:00
THE LAST WORD
Director: SIMON RUMLEY Genre: SUPERNATURAL HORROR Cast: MIKE DOYLE, ERIN CUMMINGS, SEAN PATRICK FLANERY
THE CALL UP
Director: CHARLES BARKER Genre: SCI-FI / ACTION Cast: TBC
PULP
Director: FLORIAN HABICHT Genre: DOCUMENTARY
HANGAR 10
Director: DANIEL SIMPSON Genre: SCI-FI / THRILLER Cast: ROBERT CURTIS, ABBIE SALT, DANNY SHAYLER
BIG GAME
Director: JALMARI HELANDER Genre: ACTION-ADVENTURE Cast: SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ONNI TOMMILA, JIM BROADBENT, RAY STEVENSON
47 METERS DOWN
Director: JOHANNES ROBERTS Genre: THRILLER Cast: VANESSA KIRBY
BEYOND THE EDGE 3D
Director: LEANNE POOLEY Genre: DOCUDRAMA Cast: CHAD MOFFITT, SONAM SHERPA
SON OF A GUN
Director: JULIUS AVERY Genre: ACTION / THRILLER Cast: EWAN MCGREGOR, BRENTON THWAITES, ALICIA VIKANDER, JACEK KOMAN
CATCH ME DADDY
Director: DANIEL WOLFE Genre: THRILLER Cast: SAMEENA AHMED, CONOR MCCARRON, GARY LEWIS, WASIM ZAKIR
GET SANTA
Director: CHRISTOPHER SMITH Genre: FAMILY ADVENTURE Cast: JIM BROADBENT, RAFE SPALL
Director: NICK NEVERN Genre: COMEDY / SPOOF Cast: JASON MAZA, NICK NEVERN, TOM BURKE, STEVEN O’DONNELL, JOSEF ALTIN
THE HOOLIGAN FACTORY
OUTPOST 37
Director: JABBAR RAISANI Genre: SCI-FI / ACTION / THRILLER Cast: JOE REEGAN, RICK RAVANELLO, MATTHEW HOLMES, REILEY MCCLENDON
TIGER HOUSE
Director: THOMAS DALEY Genre: THRILLER Cast: KAYA SCODELARIO, TOM CULLEN, DOUGRAY SCOTT
THE STONE ROSES: MADE OF STONE
Director: SHANE MEADOWS Genre: DOCUMENTARY
KILL YOUR FRIENDS
Director: OWEN HARRIS Genre: BLACK COMEDY Cast: TBC
THE WOODS
Director: CORIN HARDY Genre: HORROR Cast: TBC
THE LOCH
Director: SIMON DURIC Genre: HORROR Cast: PETER MULLAN
Altitude Film Sales | AFM Loews Hotel, Room 811 T: +1 310 458 6700 x 811
Altitude Film Sales | In London 4 Market Place, London, W1W 8AD T: +44 207 612 0662
info@altitudefilment.com www.altitudefilment.com
DA Y
2
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7 2013
TODAY
AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET
www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial +1 310 922 5908 Advertising +1 213 447 5120
Marriage Blue
HanWay, Lionsgate UK Brooklyn-bound
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Focus International to close
BY JEREMY KAY
NEWS Wedded bliss
M-Line reports a flurry of deals, including hot sales for Marriage Blue. » Page 6
Production on buzz script Brooklyn has come together with a bang at the beginning of AFM. HanWay has boarded sales on the prestige period drama, which will see Atonement and Hanna star Saoirse Ronan lead a cast featuring Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters and Sarah Gadon. The London-based sales outfit has inked deals with Lionsgate UK for distribution in the UK and Ireland, and Transmission for rights in Australia and New Zealand. Bafta-nominated John Crowley (Boy A) will direct Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Colm Toibin’s novel, which is being produced by Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey. The ﬁlm follows a young woman who leaves Ireland hoping for a brighter future in 1950s Brooklyn. BBC Films developed the project and will also back production, which is set to start in April.
AFM attendees woke up to the grim reality of Hollywood today after it emerged Focus Features International is to close at the end of December. The closure, conﬁrmed by parent company Universal on Wednesday, follows the announcement last month that Focus Features was merging with FilmDistrict. Sixteen Focus Features International employees, all based in the UK, were notiﬁed as Alison Thomp-
son and her team prepared for the market, where they will continue to sell existing titles. “Buyers have looked to Focus to provide superior product and they have consistently delivered,” said international sales consultant John Baca, echoing the thoughts of many. “They will deﬁnitely be missed.” Films greenlit by Focus Features will continue to be serviced and delivered to buyers through completion. In future Universal Pictures
International will distribute select titles while individual sales agents will be appointed to handle others. Since the birth of Focus in 2002 the sales arm has forged strong ties with the likes of Woody Allen and sold titles including Brokeback Mountain and Lost In Translation. Incoming Focus Features CEO Peter Schlessel replaces co-founder James Schamus and will preside over a consolidated Los Angeles hub as the New York ofﬁce closes.
FEATURES Chinese puzzle
Western companies are still figuring out how best to work with China. Screen lifts the lid in our China-Hong Kong focus. » Page 12
SCREENINGS
What to see at today’s AFM » Page 38
Bankside slips on The Big Shoe
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
London-based sales outfit Bankside Films is the new sales company confirmed for Steven Shainberg’s comedy-drama The Big Shoe. Jim Sturgess, Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks and Klaus Maria Brandauer are set to star in the story of a gifted shoe designer (Sturgess) forced to break free
from a family who want to cheapen his art. Stewart will play the designer’s muse. Written by Shainberg (Secretary) and Mickey Birnbaum, new backing for the ﬁlm comes from Bankside and South Africa’s Azari Media. Andrew Lazar of Mad Chance Productions produces, while executive producers are Christina
Weiss Lurie, Phil Hunt, Compton Ross and Anton Ernst. CAA is packaging and reps North American rights. Bankside’s head of sales and marketing Stephen Kelliher said: “It is a highly original story from an extraordinary director who has attracted a sensational cast.” The production is planning an April 2014 shoot.
Katherine Heigl
Highland turns Right with Heigl
BY JEREMY KAY
Unlimited to bridge US, UK
BY JEREMY KAY
Sharks swims to Horses
BY JEREMY KAY
London-based producer Diana Phillips has teamed up with Los Angeles talent agency Claire Best & Associates and Peter Lang’s production company Pictures In A Row to form Unlimited Pictures. The UK and US-based entity styles itself as a think-tank and management production company that will use its combined resources to develop, package and sell projects for the world market. The early pipeline includes the feature Wenceslas Square based on a story by Arthur Phillips, with Yuli Masinovsky and Phillips attached to produce. TV projects include The Accidental Empresses; Hell based on the book God’s Demon; and the series Jimmy Buddha Unpolished. “Too often projects languish because there has been no thought about the smartest way to set them up or because they have been burdened by the weight of producers who are not the right creative or ﬁnancial ﬁt,” said Best.
Image Entertainment has acquired all US rights to Drive Hard starring John Cusack and Thomas Jane. Voltage Pictures handles international sales at AFM. Brian Trenchard-Smith’s thriller recently wrapped production in Australia and is set for theatrical release in 2014. Image chief acquisitions officer Bill Bromiley, Mark Ward and Michael Bayer negotiated the deal with Network Pictures’ Dan Grodnik.
Buenos-Aires-based FilmSharks International has picked up sales rights to Iceland’s foreign-language Oscar submission Of Horses And Men, which recently won the best director prize in Tokyo. Actor Benedikt Erlingsson makes his feature directorial debut with the ﬁlm set in the horse-riding community. Fridrik Thor Fridriksson served as producer. FilmSharks International handles world sales and is at AFM to introduce the project to buyers.
Highland Film Group has picked up worldwide sales on Your Right Mind, starring Katherine Heigl and Ben Barnes, and will introduce it to buyers here. The romance is set to begin shooting in the ﬁrst quarter of 2014 and is being written and directed by Ami Canaan Mann. Your Right Mind centres on a modern-day train hopper who falls for a single mother struggling to hold on to her daughter. Mol ly Hassel l and Todd Labarowski of Dreambridge Capital produce. Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia and Highland’s Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier serve as executive producers. Highland’s sales roster also includes Instructions Not Included, Pulling Strings and Barely Lethal.
Olga Kurylenko finds Solution in 101’s Mara
Oblivion star Olga Kurylenko will lead the cast of supernatural horror Mara, scheduled to shoot in May 2014. The Solution Entertainment Group’s Myles Nestel and Room 101’s Steven Schneider (Insidious)
will produce with MannMadeFilms’ Scott Mann and James Edward Barker. UK music-video director Clive Tonge will make his feature debut on The Tournament writer Jonathan Frank’s script about a criminal psychologist (Kurylenko) working on a case about a man who has seemingly been strangled in his sleep by his wife. Synchronicity Entertainment, The Solution’s genre label, is financing and selling the project at AFM.
Quantum Of Solace star Kurylenko’s upcoming credits include Vampire Academy and November Man. She is currently in production on The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe. She is repped by CAA and Tavistock Wood. Andreas Wiseman
NEWS
Other Angle runs with Les Gazelles
By Melanie Goodfellow
Red Sea floats Mighty
By Jeremy Kay
AFM briefs
Weinsteins take Regression
Bob and Harvey Weinstein have made a pre-emptive US buy with CAA on Alejandro Amenabar’s 2015 thriller Regression, via their TWC-Dimension label.
Paris-based Other Angle has picked up sales on Mona Achache’s romantic comedy Les Gazelles , about a 30-year-old woman readjusting to single life after splitting from her long-term boyfriend. Les Gazelles stars Camille Chamoux, Audrey F leurot (Intouchables) and Josephine de Meaux. The film is loosely based on Chamoux’s one-woman show Camille Attaque. Mathias Rubin of Recifilms, who was a partner on the Jean Dujardin-starrer Möbius, produces with support from Orange Studio. The film will be released by Paramount in France. The director’s last film, Hedgehog , sold well throughout the world and won the audience award at ColCoa 2009. Further new titles on Other Angle’s AFM slate include Philippe Lachaux’s found-footage comedy Babysitting and romantic heist caper The Last Diamond starring Bérénice Bejo.
Red Sea Media has come on to handle international sales at AFM on Second World War film The Mighty Eighth , which David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman of The Fighter and The Proposal are on board to produce. CAA handles domestic rights. Rick Jacobson of Spartacus
fame will direct from a screenplay he co-wrote with one of the project’s producers, Kurt Johnstad. FX wizards and Hydraulx coheads Greg and Colin Strause will also produce the story of a US bomber crew behind enemy lines, who must survive waves of German fighters. “My goal with The Mighty Eighth is to create a film
that not only thrills and entertains the masses, but opens eyes and honours an important part of the Second World War that has never been portrayed the way it actually was,” said Jacobson. Red Sea Media’s AFM slate includes The Borderland, Dumbbells, A Voodoo Possession and Ivan And The Grey Wolf 2.
Worldview finds Search
Worldview Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Michel Hazanavicius’s drama The Search starring Bérénice Bejo and Annette Bening. Wild Bunch handles international sales at AFM.
M-Line heralds flurry of deals
By Jean Noh
Miller heads to Mississippi
Sienna Miller has joined the cast of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Mississippi Grind, which starts production in New Orleans in January. Electric City and Sycamore produce and Panorama handles sales.
Korean sales company M-Line Distribution has announced a slew of deals led by pre-sales on romantic comedy Marriage Blue. Directed by Hong Ji-young, the film sold to Showgate for Japan, Sun Entertainment for Hong Kong, Ram for Indonesia, Purple Plan for Singapore and Malaysia, and Emphasis for airlines. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s 2012 Busan closing film Television , Bangladesh’s submission for the Oscar race, sold to Astro for terri-
tories including Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Philippines. Astro also picked up Chung Jiyoung’s political drama National Security for the same territories. Nishigahara Jimakusha took the film for Japan. Shochiku picked up Jin Hyungtae’s Good Friends for Japan and Ram Entertainment took the film for Indonesia. Sundream took Hong Kong rights for Playboy Bong , Miss
Dainty’s Double Life, Green Chair 2013 , B.E.D. , The Puppet and Virgin Theory: 7 Steps To Get On The Top. Fine Films picked up The Carnivores for Japan and Sky Digi took Hello?! Orchestra for Taiwan. M-Line has also added four new titles to its slate: Han Dong-wook’s When A Man Loves A Woman (working title), about a loan shark and his debtor who become romantically involved; Jeong Yeon-shik’s thriller The Fives; black comedy Futureless Things; and Gyeongju.
Vision takes Liotta drama
Vision Films has picked up international sales rights to The Identical, a musical drama following by Dustin Marcellino with a cast including Ray Liotta, Blake Rayne, Erin Cottrell and Seth Green.
AFM 2013 SCREENING SCHEDULE
WORLD PREMIERE
Nov 9th - 11:00 - AMC Santa Monica 7 Nov 10th - 09:00 - AMC Santa Monica 6 Nov 6th - 09:00 - Laemmle Monica 2 Nov 8th - 11:00 - Laemmle Monica 3 Nov 6th - 15:00 - Laemmle Monica 1
WORLD PREMIERE
Nov 10th - 11:00 - Broadway Cineplex 1 Nov 11th - 09:00 - Broadway Cineplex 2 Nov 7th - 11:00 - Laemmle Monica 3 Nov 10th - 15:00 - Laemmle Monica 2
AFM OFFICE: Loews Suite 745
www.theexchange.ws 5670 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 2540 Los Angeles, CA 90036 USA t. +1 310.935.3760
n 6 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
GLOBAL SCREEN PRESENTS AT AFM 2013
BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF GERMANY’S FIRST FEMALE BANK-ROBBER
WINNER BEST ACTRESS SILVER HUGO
CHICAGO IFF
“CAPTIVATING PERFORMANCE”
THE JURY OF THE CHICAGO IFF
“YOU JUST HAVE TO LOVE THIS ‘BANKLADY’! WITH HIS POWERHOUSE CAST AND NOSTALGIC LOVE STORY, CHRISTIAN ALVART DELIVERS PURE POPCORN ENTERTAINMENT AND A ROARING GOOD TIME.”
KINOZEIT.DE
“WHILE NO LOVERS-IN-CRIME FILM MAY EVER TRANSCEND THE TIMELESSNESS OF ‘BONNIE AND CLYDE,’ THE TRUE STORY OF THE BANKLADY TURNS OUT TO BE THE MORE FASCINATING ONE”
ROOM 101-102.COM
DIRECTOR OF ANTIBODIES, CASE 39 AND PANDORUM
A FILM BY CHRISTIAN ALVART
MARKET PREMIERE
SANTA MONICA 4 FRI | NOV 8 | 5 PM AMC
SUN | NOV 10 | 5 PM FAIRMONT 1
“STEPH GREEN'S FEATURE CAPTURES THE BEAUTY OF AN OBVIOUSLY FLAWED FAMILY WITH REMARKABLE WARMTH AND IMMEDIACY“
VARIETY
“AN IDEAL VEHICLE FOR WILL FORTE'S DRAMATIC DEBUT“
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“A BEAUTIFUL, SMART AND SOPHISTICATED DRAMA”
THE FILM STAGE
MARKET SCREENING
SANTA MONICA 1 FRI | NOV 8 | 3 PM AMC
SANTA MONICA 2 MON | NOV 11 | 1 PM AMC
CONTACT AT AFM
Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel | 6th oor, Suite 638 | Ph + 1 310 656 2280 | F + 1 310 656 2281
CONTACT IN MUNICH
Global Screen GmbH | Sonnenstraße 21 | 80331 Munich | Germany | Ph + 49 89 2441295 500 | F + 49 89 2441295 520 | info@globalscreen.de | www.globalscreen.de
NEWS
Pegasus stirs up Z Storm
By LiZ ShackLEtoN
angus macfadyen
AFM brieFs
Sundance Selects takes Germany’s two Lives
Sundance Selects has picked up US rights from Beta Cinema to Germany’s foreign-language Academy Award entry, Two Lives.
Macfadyen rises with Blanc Biehn
By JErEmy kay
Angus Macfadyen has joined She Rises for producer Michael Biehn and Jennifer Blanc-Biehn. Shooting is scheduled to commence in mid-December in Los Angeles on the story of an egotistical Hollywood couple shooting a film at a B&B that is run by a seemingly charming young woman who may not be all that she seems. Daisy McCrackin plays the lead. Blanc Biehn Productions is in pre-production and will assign a sales company in due course. Lony Ruhmann serves as executive producer. “We are very fortunate and thrilled to have Angus Macfadyen join our production of She Rises,” said Blanc-Biehn. “As an independent production company, it is very gratifying and validating to be supported by our peers in the acting community.” Added Biehn: “It has been rewarding to produce, direct, and tell the kind of stories we are passionate about. We received great support and positive feedback from The Victim. It encouraged us to continue to add new films to an already packed roster.”
Hong Kong-based Pegasus Motion Pictures is launching sales at AFM on crime thriller Z Storm, starring Louis Koo and Lam Ka Tung. Directed by David Lam, the $6.5m (hk$50m) film revolves around Hong Kong anti-corruption police investigating a charity fund that has become involved in a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme. Koo stars as an officer of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), a reallife organisation that cleaned up Hong Kong in the 1970s, while Liu Kai-chi and Lo Hoi-pang round out the cast.
John chong
The film, co-produced by Pegasus and China’s Sil-Metropole Organisation, marks Lam’s return to directing after a hiatus of more than 10 years, during which he has worked in Hong Kong’s financial industry. Production is scheduled to start
in January, pending Chinese government script approval. John Chong, the former Media Asia boss who joined Pegasus last year as CEO, is producing. “We are finding that Chinese audiences like watching contemporary, realistic thrillers about the inner workings of the Hong Kong police,” said Chong. Pegasus is also selling Po-chih Leong’s horror film Baby Blues 3D, which was released over Halloween in China where it grossed $2.5m on its opening weekend, and Wilson Chin’s Kung Fu Angels, a coming-of-age story about a rich girl who goes to China to learn kung-fu.
108 media clicks with camera trap
108 Media’s new Asian office, headed by Ryo Ebe, has pre-sold Taiwanese rights on Camera Trap to Pomi ahead of its AFM world premiere today.
kit harington, Jennifer Ehle join Spooks
Game Of Thrones’ Kit Harington and Zero Dark Thirty’s Jennifer Ehle have joined the upcoming feature based on TV spy thriller Spooks, behind sold here by Altitude. Spooks: The Greater Good will shoot in the first quarter of 2014, produced by Shine Pictures and Kudos.
AFM celebrates Hong Kong Day
By WENdy mitchELL
thrills for Bus 757
Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films will produce and finance the action film Bus 757 from Stephen Sepher and has lined up a 2014 shoot.
Jeremy Irvine and Phoebe Fox appear in this first image from Tom Harper’s The Woman In Black: Angel Of Death, which has started shooting in the UK. Exclusive Media is co-financing (with eOne) and also handling international sales on the Hammer and Talisman production. The follow-up to the 2012 hit picks up four decades after the last film, as a group of children are evacuated to the spooky Eel Marsh House during the London Blitz. eOne will release in the UK in February 2015 and the company also has rights for Spain and Canada. Wendy Mitchell
Today is AFM’s fourth annual Hong Kong Day, organised with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The day-long series of events will include a 2:30pm co-production panel featuring Zhou Tiedong, president of China Film Promotion International; Jeffrey Chan, CEO of Distribution Workshop; and Maria Lo Orzel, a producer at Studio Strada. Films to screen on the day include Special ID, Tales From The Dark 2, Bonta 3D, Iceman 3D, Baby Blues 3D, Out Of Inferno 3D and The White Storm. An invitation-only reception will close the day. There are 16 Hong Kong-based sellers attending AFM this year.
Buyers scale Edge
Distribution deals for 3D Everest documentary Beyond The Edge have been secured by Altitude Film Sales for key territories including the UK (Metrodome), German-speaking Europe (Polyband), Japan (Kadokawa) and the Middle East (Gulf).
mongrel pays for Gigolo
Mongrel Media has acquired all Canadian rights to writer-director John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo starring Turturro and Woody Allen.
WidE takes on Bajari
WIDE Management has boarded Bajari: Gypsy Barcelona, a drama set in Spain’s flamenco world. Eva Vila directs.
US and China need to find ‘common ground’
By JohN haZELtoN
“Please don’t worry, come to China.” That was the message delivered by China Film Co-production Corporation president Zhang Xun at the US-China Film Summit in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday. Speaking to a 500-strong audience, Zhang urged US and Chinese film-makers to get past their cultural differences and work together more often. “I would like our American friends to do away with your hesitations,” Zhang said. “Just go forward. Let’s join hands so American and Chinese movie-makers can make movies that will take away the breath of the whole world.”
During a panel reviewing the past year in China, Michael Ellis, Asia-Pacific president and managing director of the Motion Picture Association, highlighted the continuing growth of the market — with local box office for the first three quarters of 2013 almost equal to the $2.7bn figure for the whole of 2012 — and discussed what he said were “myths” about the Hollywood studios having problems with the Chinese industry and government. Yang Buting, chairman of the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association, emphasised the increasing popularity of homegrown films — with 57% of total box office in the first half of the
year earned by Chinese films — and increased screen penetration in smaller cities and rural areas of the country. On a panel about the cultural impact of collaboration between China and Hollywood, Ye Ning, group vice-president of Wanda Cultural Industries Group, said his company “wants to grasp the opportunity to build a platform for business” between the US and China. The difficulty, he said is not just adapting to different business practices: “The real challenge is about understanding and respecting different cultures.” Charles Coker, managing director of equity fund Dasym Media, which has been involved in two
official US-China co-productions, said: “Each side has to learn how to work with each other. The trick is to find common ground.” Producer Janet Yang moderated a panel on the practicalities of making films in China. In the session, Village Roadshow Pictures Asia CEO Ellen Eliasoph told attendees that “the process of censorship in China is not as daunting as one might think. What is very scary is the fact China does not have a film rating system; that constrains everyone to making movies on about a PG-13 level. It’s something that not only foreign film-makers complain about but Chinese filmmakers as well.”
Na deal for tulpa
Jinga has sold erotic horror Tulpa to The Collective for distribution in North America via its Bloody Disgusting label. The film has also sold to Ledick Filmhandel for Germany, Njuta for Scandinavia and Thanks & Love for Korea.
Stealth’s adrenalin bites for Panzer chocolate
Stealth’s genre label Adrenalin has boarded Robert Figueras’s Panzer Chocolate, a horror film that makes use of interactive technology.
» For full stories see Screendaily.com
n 10 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
China-Hong Kong focus
CHINA REWRITES
the script
hen the crown jewels of Hollywood, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman, turned up at Wanda Group’s recent launch event in Qingdao, the message was clear. China is a territory that, due to its size, growth and ambition, has the potential to change the dynamics of the global ﬁlm business for good. Even if Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin’s designs to build a new Hollywood on China’s shores have more to do with real estate than movies — as some commenta-
W
tors suggest — the fact remains any ﬁlm company thinking beyond its own borders needs to factor this territory into its plans. Over the following pages we examine how Hollywood and the independent ﬁlm business are getting to grips with this new reality. Despite the expansion of import quotas, US studios have found the local ﬁlm industry, with its rising production values and focus on social media, a force to be reckoned with over the past year. With even less quota to play with, independents are exploring various
methods of working with China. We look at those hardy pioneers who have established beachheads in China — and could help the local industry with its ambitions to increase exports of its movies overseas. Finally, we highlight the ﬁlms that will be in the vanguard of this international push: Chinese-language titles such as John Woo’s The Crossing, Zhang Yimou’s Home Coming and Wong Fei-hung biopic Rise Of The Legend are sure to keep buys ers buzzing over the next year. I Liz Shackleton, Asia editor
Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon
■ 12 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
ARRI Worldsales Head Office: Türkenstr. 89 • D-80799 Munich Phone: +49-(0)89-3809-1288 Fax: +49-(0)89-3809-1619 worldsales@arri.de www.arriworldsales.de
PRESENTS
ARRI Worldsales contact at AFM: Office at German Films booth c/o Loews #626 1700 Ocean Drive, Santa Monica Phone: +1 310- 458-6700, ext. 628 Attending Executive: Moritz Hemminger mhemminger@arri.de
“THE FIRST BIG SENSATION AT VENICE FILM FESTIVAL“ Le Monde “THE TERRIFIC COMPLETION OF A MASTERPIECE“ Der Spiegel
AFM Screening - Market Premiere: Tomorrow Nov 8th 3:00 PM AMC Santa Monica 6
China-hong Kong foCus overview
Tiny Times
A DigitAl DomAin
Digital marketing has become critical in China’s increasingly competitive movie market, but it’s a battle in which local films currently hold an advantage. liz Shackleton reports
D
rive around Beijing in the run-up to one of the year’s biggest holiday periods, the week-long National Day holiday in early October, and it is difficult to believe China is the world’s second-largest movie market. Film posters do not dominate billboards and the subway as they do in New York, London and other major metropolises. Turn on the TV and there are a few lone ads for The Lone Ranger, but nothing like the level of advertising seen during major holiday periods in the West. Seven Chinese and three foreign movies opened over National Day but the only physical marketing evidence was on a few bus shelters. This was not due to restrictions on film marketing in China, although some do exist, but has more to do with the way the Chinese film market is evolving. In a short space of time, China has developed a vast digital eco-system with 600 million internet users and 460 million smartphone users, so most of the people you want to sell movies to are living online. Local companies employ SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile) marketing methods, reaching consumers through major portals such as Sina and Sohu and social media sites including Sina Weibo, WeChat
and Renren. Also huge are specialist movie sites Mtime and Douban, which enable consumers to share reviews, check showtimes and buy movie tickets. Most of the ancillary market is also online at video streaming sites such as Youku, Tudou, iQiyi and LeTV. “We have 600 million internet users, but only 60 million regular movie-goers, so to get people into theatres we need to use the internet and play up the social aspect of films,” says Zhang Zhao, CEO of Le Vision Pictures, which had a huge theatrical hit over the summer with romantic drama Tiny Times. “The majority of movie-goers in China are aged 25-35, so we use the internet to pull them in because that’s where they live.”
Direct connection
The internet may also be the only cost-effective way to reach them. Compared to the US, which has about 280 cities with populations of more than 100,000 people, China has more than 600 cities of this size. It could be expensive to reach all those urban centres unless distributors let consumers do the work for them by sharing trailers, posters and even personal experiences on their phones. In 2011,
‘The majority of movie-goers in China are aged 25-35, so we use the internet to pull them in because that’s where they live’
Zhang Zhao, Le Vision Pictures
romantic comedy Love Is Not Blind became one of China’s first sleeper hits by encouraging moviegoers to share their experiences of heartbreak on social media. “Traditional media creates brand awareness but it doesn’t create that direct connection between product and consumer,” Zhang says. Marketing has been cited as one of the reasons why local films have been so successful at the China box office this year. In the first half of 2013, the takings of Chinese films grew by 144% to $1.11bn (rmb6.85bn) accounting for a 62% market share. Hollywood films slipped by 21% over the same period to gross $675m (rmb4.14bn), accounting for a 38% market share. Hollywood’s slide has also been blamed on boxoffice growth in third and fourth-tier cities — which are believed to prefer local product — and the fact Chinese producers have really started to tap into local audience tastes. Following the success of mega-hit Lost In Thailand at the end of last year, China has seen a major homegrown success story almost every month, including Stephen Chow’s Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, which grossed more than »
n 14 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
CHINA-HONG KONG FOCUS OVERVIEW
CHINA: TOP 10 LOCAL FILMS (JAN-JUNE 2013)
Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons So Young Finding Mr Right Tiny Times Switch The Grandmaster Badges Of Fury The Chef, The Actor, The Scoundrel
Release date Feb 10 Apr 26 Mar 21 Jun 27 Jun 9 Jan 8 Jun 21 Mar 29 Feb 12
Box ofﬁce $202.4m(RMB1.24bn) $116.7m (RMB717.3m) $87.5m (RMB537.8m) $84.3m (RMB518.3m $78.6m (RMB483.1m) $48.3m (RMB296.7m) $46.7m (RMB287m) $46.1m (RMB283.6m) $44.3m (RMB272.1m) $32.4m (RMB199.4m)
American Dreams In China May 17
10 Say Yes
CHINA: TOP 10 IMPORTED FILMS (JAN-JUNE 2013)
Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Iron Man 3 Man Of Steel The Croods Skyfall Star Trek Into Darkness G.I. Joe: Retaliation The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey A Good Day To Die Hard
Release date May 1 Jun 20 Apr 20 Jan 21 May 28 Apr 15 Feb 22 Mar 14 May 10
Box ofﬁce $122.5m (RMB753m) $64.09m (RMB 394m) $64.04m (RMB 393.7m) $61m (RMB 375.5m) $57.3m (RMB 352.3m) $54.8m (RMB 337m) $51.2m (RMB 314.7m) $32.6m (RMB200.7m) $26.6m (RMB163.4m) $24.1m (RMB148.2m)
Source: EntGroup
Oz The Great And Powerful Mar 29
10 Oblivion
$200m; nostalgia-driven ﬁlms such as Vicky Zhao’s So Young and Peter Ho-sun Chan’s American Dreams In China; romantic comedies including Finding Mr Right and Tiny Times; and most recently Tsui Hark’s 3D epic Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon, which grossed more than $70m in 10 days during the National Day period. “A lot of the local ﬁlms over the past year have had some kind of social message that resonated with audiences,” says Legendary East CEO and long-time China specialist Peter Loehr. “Journey To The West was the only obvious hit because it had been a long time since a Stephen Chow movie and the subject matter was perfect for Chinese New Year.” Hollywood has also had a few heavy hitters — Paciﬁc Rim grossed $112m in late summer and Iron Man 3 made $123m earlier in the year — but ﬁrsthalf takings were down on the same period in 2012 when the annual quota for revenue-sharing imports was ﬁrst expanded from 20 to 34 ﬁlms.
Hurdles for Hollywood
It’s not that the US studios aren’t taking advantage of new media, but their biggest problems remain the distribution monopoly and the authorities’ control of scheduling, which means they don’t have the same lead-in times that local ﬁlms do. Despite promises of change in the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement in February 2012, it is still the case that only two state-owned companies — China Film and Huaxia — distribute all imported ﬁlms, while both companies and a growing number of private Chinese studios either collaborate or go head-to-head on the release of local ﬁlms. While China Film and Huaxia do not have much incentive to push the boat out on individual titles, the intense competition between local studios has resulted in some innovative marketing. Scheduling is also an issue, especially now there are more local and imported films jostling for
release. Last year, when the quota was first expanded, some US blockbusters were scheduled to open against each other to lessen their impact. This year, the scheduling has been subtler — rather than create month-long blackout periods to protect local product, the authorities have carefully moved Hollywood ﬁlms away from the opening weekends of select domestic ﬁlms. For example, it is understood Fast & Furious 6 was held back for about six weeks to protect the critically panned but commercially successful local action adventure Switch. The US studios are also given short notice on release dates, which makes it more difﬁcult to create a buzz online. Although they usually have a pretty good idea of which ﬁlms from their slate will be given the nod by Chinese authorities, before they receive this official confirmation, they can only push out trailers tagged ‘hopefully coming soon’. In comparison, Zhang Yimou was has been recording daily news items from the set of his new ﬁlm Home Coming, backed by Le Vision Pictures, which are being eagerly circulated via social media almost a year before the ﬁlm’s release. So as the situation is unlikely to change in the short-term, how can the US studios gain traction in China? One strategy has been to work with local companies to tweak Hollywood films for Chinese consumption as in the case of Iron Man 3 and Transformers 4, which is scheduled for global release next June. Talk of co-producing with China, which enables ﬁlms to bypass import quotas, has gone quiet since the authorities clamped
Popular Hollywood titles included Paciﬁc Rim ($112m), above, and Iron Man 3 ($123m), below
down on the practice last year. Likewise, the casting of Chinese actors in minor roles is being questioned after it appeared to backﬁre on Iron Man 3. Although the ﬁlm was a huge hit, Weibo users condemned the casting of Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi as artiﬁcial. But working with Chinese partners to make a movie more appealing to local consumers also creates a head start on the marketing. The noise generated by Paramount and its local partners on Transformers 4 — including the casting of local actors via a reality TV show — translates into priceless marketing well ahead of the ﬁlm’s release. The problem with this strategy is that it is only suitable for a handful of ﬁlms, whereas Zhang and some other less-outspoken local industry ﬁgures say that, even with the monopoly and scheduling issues, the US studios are too passive and could do more to supplement China Film’s marketing. The real question is whether they want to. As China Film is responsible for distributing their ﬁlms, the US studios currently have low-cost operations in China, although they have increased marketing spend since the quota was widened. And since their share of box ofﬁce has increased to 25% under the WTO agreement, they are receiving a nice chunk of revenue for relatively little spend. It also helps when local ﬁlms gain market share as they can push for a better deal from the Chinese authorities. As a result, the studios may feel they are not prepared to deploy greater resources in China until they are allowed to control their own destinies. In the meantime, their biggest headache will be figuring out how to sell their product in a market where, despite the rise of social media, it is the government rather than the s audience that is in control. I
■ 16 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
@ AFM 2013
RISE OF THE LEGEND
IN PRODUCTION
GENRE MARTIAL ARTS DIRECTOR CHOW HIN YEUNG (Best New Director for Nightfall) CAST SAMMO HUNG (Ip Man 2), EDDIE PENG (Unbeatable), ZHANG JIN (The Grandmaster)
ONE OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN MARTIAL ARTS ICONS IS MAKING HIS TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE BIG SCREEN
HORSEPLAY
IN POST PRODUCTION
GENRE ADVENTURE DIRECTOR LEE CHI NGAI (Dance Subaru) CAST TONY LEUNG KA FAI (Cold War), KELLY CHEN (Infernal Affairs), EKIN CHENG (Saving General Yang)
A MULTI-FACED THIEF, AN ATTRACTIVE REPORTER AND A WASHOUT DETECTIVE ARE ALL ON THE ROLLER-COASTER TRAIL IN PRAGUE OF A PRICELESS ANTIQUE HORSE
KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE
IN POST PRODUCTION
GENRE FANTASY DIRECTOR TAKASHI SHIMIZU (The Grudge series) CAST RIE MIYAZAWA (The Twilight Samurai), HIROSHI YAMAMOTO (Tony Takitani)
LIVE ACTION FILM ADAPTATION OF THE POPULAR FANTASY NOVEL BY EIKO KADONO IS MAGICALLY BROUGHT TO LIFE
Loews Hotel #452
MARKET SCREENING
TODAY / 11:00 / LAEMMLE MONICA 2
Executives attending: Julian Chiu / (852) 9739 8628 / chiujulian@edkofilm.com.hk Bella Liu / (852) 9729 1015 / liubella@edkofilm.com.hk
TALES FROM THE DARK 2
GENRE HORROR DIRECTOR GORDON CHAN (Painted Skin), LAWRENCE LAU (Besieged City), TEDDY ROBIN (All the Wrong Spies) CAST LAM KA TUNG (Ip Man 2), FALA CHEN (Turning Point)
FIRESTORM
IN POST PRODUCTION
GENRE ACTION DIRECTOR ALAN YUEN (scriptwriter of New Police Story) CAST ANDY LAU (Infernal Affairs), LAM KA TUNG (Ip Man), HU JUN (Red Cliff)
A DARKER, GRITTIER CONTINUATION TO THE SUCCESSFUL HORROR ANTHOLOGY
A HARDBOILED POLICE INSPECTOR DETERMINES TO HUNT DOWN A GROUP OF SEASONED CRIMINALS AT ALL COST
UP IN THE WIND
IN POST PRODUCTION
GENRE ADVENTURE DIRECTOR TENG HUATAO (Love is not Blind) CAST NI NI (The Flowers of War), JING BORAN (The Bullet Vanishes)
TALES FROM THE DARK 1
COMPLETED
GENRE HORROR DIRECTOR SIMON YAM (directorial debut), LEE CHI NGAI (Dance Subaru), FRUIT CHAN (Made in HK) CAST TONY LEUNG KA FAI (Cold War), KELLY CHEN (Infernal Affairs), SIMON YAM (Election)
FROM THE DIRECTOR-SCREENWRITER WHO BROUGHT YOU THE 2011 BOX OFFICE HIT THAT GROSSED OVER RMB $300 MILLION
AN ALL-STAR ENSEMBLE HORROR BASED ON THE SHORT STORIES BY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LILIAN LEE
A COMPLICATED STORY
COMPLETED
GENRE DRAMA DIRECTOR KIWI CHOW CAST JACKY CHEUNG (Perhaps Love), ZHU ZHIYING (Lust, Caution)
FINDING MR. RIGHT
COMPLETED
GENRE ROMANTIC COMEDY DIRECTOR XUE XIAOLU (Ocean Heaven) CAST TANG WEI (Lust, Caution), WU XIUBO (The Four)
PRESENTED BY JOHNNIE TO AND BILL KONG, BASED ON THE BESTSELLING NOVEL BY YI SHU, AN IMMORAL TALE OF 3 AMOROUS AFFAIRS
HIGHEST GROSSING CHINESE ROMANTIC COMEDY OVER US$82 MILLION IN CHINA BOX OFFICE ALONE
China-hong Kong foCus distributioN
Huayi Brothers is releasing QED’s Brad Pitt starrer, Fury
Battle for independents
Non-studio foreign films can gross big numbers in China, but the business is getting tougher as risks increase alongside the rewards. Liz Shackleton reports
W
ith a growing number of local films and Hollywood blockbusters slugging it out at the Chinese box office, is there any room left for independent foreign movies? International sales companies and local buyers believe there is — but you have to be a lot smarter these days to make money in this market. At present, most of the 34 revenue-sharing quota slots are given to US studio films, with around six slots reserved for non-studio titles. As the authorities are aiming for diversity, it helps if your film is classified as non-US even if it is English language, and commercial foreign-language titles also have a good shot. Korean heist caper The Thieves secured a revenue-sharing slot this January, while Russian war epic Stalingrad had a big launch as a revenue-sharing film on October 31, although Sony has international rights, rather than an independent distributor. “In our perception, the only US independent films that are managing to grab these slots are the
handful that measure up to studio product in terms of budget, visual spectacle, global box-office appeal and of course suitability for the Chinese audience,” says IM Global CEO Stuart Ford. “The studios have a big headstart at present.” Outside of the revenue-sharing quota, around 30-40 films are imported each year on a flat-fee basis. While the exact number of these slots is unclear, the general rule is that the number of imports must not exceed one third of the total number of releases. China Film and Huaxia are still the only companies sanctioned to distribute imported films, but private Chinese companies are allowed to handle acquisition and marketing of imports under the ‘assisted promotion’ scheme. In recent years, the assisted promotion slots have been made more flexible — in theory they can return overages to the foreign producer so are not really flat — but in practice it remains complicated to get revenue out of China.
‘Chinese consumers will go to see a big Western film two or three times’
Marc Schipper, Exclusive Media
Non-studio films, whichever way they are imported, account for less than 10% of the overall market, but certain titles can hit the jackpot — The Expendables grossed $32m in 2010, while The Expendables 2 took $53m last year. The Resident Evil franchise has also been successful — Resident Evil: Afterlife took $22m in 2010 and Resident Evil: Retribution did $17.5m earlier this year. Sci-fi films such as The Butterfly Effect, Source Code, Looper and Cloud Atlas have also performed well. “Chinese audiences like action, sci-fi and highconcept films,” says content aggregator David U Lee, who has been involved in acquiring Chinese rights to films such as Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, The Last Stand and Rush. “Cloud Atlas wasn’t a hit just because it had a Chinese actress in the cast — it worked because it’s a big, high-concept film that resonated with audiences here.” But the business is changing as the stakes get higher. A few years back Chinese rights for a »
n 20 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
To set up a meeting, please contact June Wu junewu@ablazeimage.com
CHInA-Hong Kong foCUS distributioN
China’s Co-produCtion Challenges
Some of the highest-grossing independent films in China over the past few years, such as Cloud Atlas, Looper and The Expendables 2, were originally intended to be Chinese coproductions but ended up as imports after Chinese authorities clamped down on the practice last year. Co-productions can return a much higher share of box office back to foreign producers than the 25% available for revenue-sharing films. But following a tightening of the regulations, Western companies are realising that retrofitting existing projects to squeeze past China’s co-production requirements is not going to work. The talk now is of collaborating with Chinese partners on scripts that have strong cultural links to China from the early stages of development. This makes the co-production process much more difficult — finding suitable stories and partners is a challenge in itself. Co-productions in development include action comedy Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing, which Exclusive Media is co-producing with China’s Talent International. Exclusive Media backer Dasym Investment Strategies is working with Lion Rock Productions and China Film on John Woo’s Flying Tigers. Radical Studios is developing several projects with Le Vision Pictures, including sci-fi actioner Clans Of The Sacred Stones and Mandate Of Heaven, scripted by Bruce McKenna. Le Vision is also working with Quinta Communications on Automata starring Antonio Banderas. China’s DMG Entertainment has partnered with Alcon Entertainment on Transcendence and Point Break 2, although following its experience on Looper and Iron Man 3 appears wary of describing these projects as co-productions. Fundamental Films is developing projects with both EuropaCorp and Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road. Legendary East is working on a slate of films with China Film. Not all these projects were brand new when they knocked on China’s door although many reveal the latest organic way of thinking. And as it takes considerable time to develop projects from the get-go, it may be a few years before the final results are seen. But as Western producers and sales companies need China’s capital, the co-production route is likely to remain busy for some years.
decent-sized action picture would sell for around $100,000-$500,000. Since the success of Nu Image/Millennium Films’ The Expendables 2, Chinese rights for films of this scale rarely go for less than $1m and asking prices on titles such as The Expendables 3 and Lionsgate’s Transcendence have been much higher. As a result, many of the smaller aggregators have cleared out of the market, leaving the bigger outfits and private Chinese studios to do the buying. “I would say for the right project that can secure a quota slot, you can get a multi-million dollar minimum guarantee out of China. But buyers were much less prevalent at Cannes this year,” says Exclusive Media chief operating officer Marc Schipper.
The big buyers
Among the private Chinese studios, the most active buyers include Le Vision Pictures, which released The Expendables 2 and also has The Expendables 3; Bona Film Group, which is releasing Summit’s Red 2 and Constantin’s The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones later this year; and Huayi Brothers, which is releasing QED’s Fury. Fundamental Films, which has an output deal with EuropaCorp, and DMG Entertainment have also been active buyers, although both say they are now more focused on production (see sidebar). It is a risky business for both buyers and sellers — especially now that a growing number of films and companies are chasing the same number of slots. Buyers cannot guarantee when they acquire a film that it will pass through the quota system. And even if it does they have no control over the release date, which can create problems with piracy. Most contracts now require the buyer to make at least partial payment if the film does not bag a theatrical slot. Buyers also say p&a costs are increasing,
although they are currently still lower than in the West. “Marketing costs are going to explode in China over the next three years,” says Fundamental Films’ chairman Mark Gao. “We already have a situation where local companies produce films but can’t afford to release them. And we still don’t have much of an ancillaries market to offset the risk.” China does not have a DVD market although it does have several big companies with videostreaming platforms, such as Youku Tudou, Tencent, Baidu and LeTV, which acquire foreign films. In 2011, prices boomed as these private equityfuelled players started aggressively building libraries ahead of stock market flotations. But they have recently pulled back following a period of consolidation and lower-than-expected growth in subscription revenues. For sales companies that do not have the next big action picture, revenue from China is still on a par with a small European territory. Yet despite the obstacles, Western sellers remain focused on this part of the world because of its future potential rather than short-term gains. “What we’re finding is that Chinese consumers will go to see a big Western film two or three times, which shows the latent demand in the market,” says Exclusive Media’s Schipper. Christian De Gallegos, head of sales at International Film Trust, says: “It is crucial for sellers to stay relevant in China as its emergence compensates for Europe’s diminishing value.” For the Chinese buyers, acquiring foreign films is still cheaper than producing a local one, and companies such as Le Vision, Bona and Huayi are limbering up for the day they can release these films alone without China Film or Huaxia. Even when that happens, marketing independent films in a vast, complex and rapidly changing market s like China will remain an interesting challenge. n
Constantin’s The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones is being released by Bona Film Group
China: top 10 independent iMports (Jan-sept 2013)*
Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cloud Atlas Upside Down The Impossible Colombiana Stolen Dredd The Thieves Bullet To The Head
Country US-Ger Can-Fr Sp US-Fr US US-UK-Ind Kor US Belg
Release date Jan 31 Mar 17 Mar 7 Aug 29 June 7 Mar 1 Mar 1 Jan 15 July 9 June 28
Box office $26.9m $17.5m $11.7m $8.7m $8.1m $7m $4.8m $3.5m $2.07m $2m
Resident Evil: Retribution US-Ger
10 Sammy’s Adventures 2
* Not local or US studio films. Could be imported on either a flat fee or revenue-sharing basis. Source: Screen/EntGroup
n 22 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
CASANOVA MULTIMEDIA and RAI CINEMA present
November 7th, 2013 3:00 p.m. Broadway Cineplex 3 November 10th, 2013 1:00 p.m. Broadway Cineplex 2
lUCa BARBARESCHI
THE MERCURY FACTOR
a film by LUCA BARBARESCHI
Mattia Oddone Mobile: +39 3355494075 mattia.oddone@rai.it Catia Rossi Mobile: +39 3356049456 catia.rossi@rai.it
ZHanG JINGCHU
Credits not contractual
CHINA-HONG KONG FOCUS SALES
Journey to the East
Independent film companies are increasingly setting up shop in China, and using their ability to distribute Chinese films overseas to open doors in the territory. Liz Shackleton reports
lthough China’s growth story is breathtaking, it is a complicated territory to deal with due to regulations and rapidly changing market conditions. A growing number of Western film companies are deciding the only way to engage with the new cinematic superpower is to have a presence in Beijing. Over the summer, three international sales companies — IM Global, Wild Bunch and Arclight Films — announced they are setting up Beijing ofﬁces. DreamWorks and some large Western production and ﬁnancing outﬁts already have operations in the country. Legendary East is developing English-language projects in a partnership with China Film, while Village Roadshow has invested in Chinese-language hits such as Stephen Chow’s Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons and Say Yes!. The companies all have a slightly different focus, but the overall picture is one of two-way exchange: selling into China and co-producing or handling international distribution of Chinese ﬁlms. IM Global’s Beijing office, headed by former Huayi Brothers sales chief Leslie Chen, has three missions: managing IM Global’s Apsara pan-Asian distribution label; overseeing international sales in the region, which includes selling into China; and acquiring Chinese ﬁlms to sell. “Apsara has ﬁve upcoming wide releases across the region, so that’s already a full workload for the Beijing team,” says IM Global CEO Stuart Ford. “Nevertheless, it’s our hope to make some inroads into the Chinese-language ﬁlm sales marketplace over the next 12 months. But it’s a strategy that needs a measured approach. We’re under no illusions we can just turn up and say, ‘Give us your best movies.’” Wild Bunch, which has partnered with Beijingbased Taihe Media, also plans to work on sales to China and international distribution of Chinese films. “China has a huge TV and VoD market where Taihe will work on our catalogue, and if needed some other catalogues, and a theatrical market where we’ll work with Taihe to identify movies we can submit to the quota system,” says Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval. He adds: “The main goal of our joint venture is to develop Chinese production and structure it for exportation.” Wild Bunch has previously been involved in Chinese titles such as Lou Ye’s Purple Butterfly and Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster. Arclight Films, which has hired former Tianjin Film Studio executive Elliot Tong to head its Beijing ofﬁce, has outlined similar objectives and previously handled Chinese ﬁlms such as The Four, Dangerous Liaisons and Special ID through its Easternlight label. With Fortissimo Films also active in the region, there should be no shortage of international sales
A
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons
companies looking to acquire Chinese movies. Both the Chinese government and ﬁlm industry should welcome this, as they are keen to increase exports of local ﬁlms, despite being buoyed by a massive domestic market. “There are a growing number of players who aspire towards global recognition and these companies are likely to drive the overseas distribution of big-ticket Chineselanguage product,” says Ford. Western indies may also ﬁnd they are viewed with less suspicion than the US studios, which previously became involved in Chinese production by offering the dual incentives of capital and global distribution networks. These days China does not need the capital and US studio networks have not proved adept at distributing local-language ﬁlms. More recently, Fox International Productions has co-produced some big hits in China, but made it clear from the outset that any international revenue would be icing on the cake. By emphasising their credentials in international distribution of smaller films, Western sales
‘There are a growing number of Chinese players who aspire towards global recognition’
Stuart Ford, IM Global
(Left) The Grandmaster
companies may ﬁnd it easier politically to sell into the country and achieve their long-term objective of raising ﬁnance to get ﬁlms made. Meanwhile, Legendary East has direct access to international distribution through Legendary Entertainment’s new deal with Universal Pictures, but is working on projects of a different scale: English-language tentpoles aimed at the global market. It is understood some of these will be Chinese co-productions, while others that do not ﬁt the coproduction requirements will have strong Chinese elements. Partnering with China Film — still the country’s biggest player with access to funding, distribution and cinemas — gives Legendary a powerful ally. The partnership also gives China Film a head start in its ambitions to be involved in international blockbusters. China realises it needs to make big movies to compete with the West and that the best way to gain this experience is to work with Western partners. The irony is that these partners will be providing expertise while being held at arm’s length — foreign companies are still not allowed to own production or distribution outﬁts in China. But given the size of the market, it is worth gaining a foothold in anticipation of the day when the rules change. Most Western players are also feeling the need to build long-term relationships and to have people on the ground to s really understand the changing landscape. I
■ 24 Screen International at AFM
China-hong Kong foCus buzz titles
Firestorm
Dir Alan Yuen This gritty cop thriller stars Andy Lau as a policeman chasing a criminal crew. Lau also produces with Bill Kong. The film marks the directorial debut of Yuen, best known as the scriptwriter of Shaolin, Connected and Rob-B-Hood. Lam Ka Tung (Election) and Hu Jun (Red Cliff) also star. In post-production, the film is being readied for a year-end release.
Contact Edko Films chiujulian@edkofilm.com.hk
The Four II
Dir Gordon Chan, Janet Chun The sequel to Chan and Chun’s The Four, which grossed $32m last July, continues the story of the four members of the Divine Constabulary who each have special powers. Deng Chao, Liu Yi Fei, Collin Chou and Ronald Cheng reprise their roles as the crime fighters, with Anthony Wong again playing their chaperone. Backed by Enlight Pictures, the company behind breakout box-office hit Lost In Thailand and So Young, the 3D martial-arts action adventure will be released in China on November 22.
Contact Arclight Films ying@arclightfilms.com
Home Coming
Dir Zhang Yimou Zhang is currently shooting this drama based on Yan Geling’s acclaimed novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi, the story of which follows a Chinese intellectual over several decades. The film reunites him with Gong Li and also stars Chen Daoming. Oscar-winning make-up artist Greg Cannom, whose credits include The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, is on board to help the characters age over 30 years. Produced by Le Vision Pictures, for whom Zhang works as creative director, the film will be released in 2014.
Contact Le Vision Pictures xieman@letvpicture.com
The new arrivals
Hot projects from Hong Kong and China include Jackie Chan’s reboot of Police Story and a two-part epic from John Woo. Liz Shackleton previews the buzz titles As The Light Goes Out
Dir Derek Kwok Emperor Motion Pictures’ big-budget fire-fighting drama is currently in post-production and being readied for a January 2014 release. Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue star as fire-fighters battling local politics and an out-of-control blaze at a liquor warehouse. Hong Kong-based Media Asia is co-financing the film with EMP. The cast also includes Simon Yam, Hu Jun and William Chan.
Contact Emperor Motion Pictures mayyip@emperorgroup.com
Kung Fu Killer The Crossing
Dir John Woo Scripted by Wang Huiling, Woo’s two-part romantic epic, now shooting, follows three couples travelling from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. Produced by Woo and Terence Chang’s Lion Rock Productions, Beijing Galloping Horse and China Film Group, the $40m film’s stellar cast includes Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Korean actress Song Hyekyo, Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei and Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa. The first feature is scheduled for late 2014, with part two expected in 2015.
Contact Beijing Galloping Horse huangguoxian@xmbt.com.cn (Top) Firestorm; (above left) The Four II; (above right) As The Light Goes Out
Dir Teddy Chen Chen (Bodyguards And Assassins) directs this $25m action thriller starring action supremo Donnie Yen and popular mainland actor Wang Baoqiang. Yen plays a former Police Academy martial-arts instructor who is imprisoned after accidentally killing a man. Wang plays a vicious killer who starts targeting martial-arts masters in Hong Kong. Produced by Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP), the film is tentatively slated for a summer 2014 release.
Contact Emperor Motion Pictures mayyip@emperorgroup.com
Beijing Love Story
Dir Chen Sicheng Chinese actor Chen, whose credits include Lou Ye’s Spring Fever, makes his directorial debut with this drama starring Tony Leung Ka-fai, Carina Lau and Siqin Gaowa. The story revolves around a traffic accident that links five couples. Wanda Media is backing the film and handles international sales, excluding South-East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan which are handled by Emperor Media Group.
Contact Wanda Media celine.lin.wanda@gmail.com
Out Of Inferno 3D
Dir Pang Brothers Universe’s $20m fire-fighting drama unfolds in an office building that is engulfed by flames during a party. Louis Koo stars as a former firefighter dragged into the mayhem and Lau Ching Wan and Lee Sinje round out the cast. Released in China over the recent National Day holidays, the film marked a career best for the Pang brothers, with a gross of $14m after one week.
Contact Universe Films Distribution alice_leung@uih.com.hk
Dragon City working title
Dir Derek Kwok Set in 1970s Hong Kong, this Donnie Yen vehicle follows a cop who assembles a team to fight against corrupt police and gangsters in Kowloon’s crime-infested Walled City. Currently in pre-production, the project will be directed by Kwok who co-directed hit fantasy adventure Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons with Stephen Chow.
Contact Media Asia ricky_tse@mediaasia.com
»
n 26 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
ET E K R R E A I M EM PR
Directed by Megan Grifﬁths Cast Toni Collette, Thomas Haden Church, Ryan Eggold, Oliver Platt
Sunday 10th November | 09.00 | AMC Santa Monica 5
TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL 2013
“TERRIFIC PERFORMANCES”
Variety
ET G K IN R N A E M RE SC
Directed by Youssef Delara and Victor Teran Cast Jake Hoffman, Nikki Reed, Scott Bakula, Thomas Dekker, Jason Priestley
SXSW 2013 FILM4 2013
Friday 8th November | 09.00 | Broadway Cineplex 3
FILM FESTIVAL
FRIGHTFEST
Popmatters.com
“ONE OF THE BEST PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS OF THE PAST DECADE”
PR
E ION PR CT IN DU O
SWUNG
THE
Directed by Colin Kennedy Cast Elena Anaya, Owen McDonnell Principle photography begins 18th November 2013
SCRIPT AVAILABLE
PR
E ION PR CT IN DU O
CATASTROPHIST
Directed by Nick Broomﬁeld Cast TBC Dan Stevens, Freida Pinto, John C. Reilly
SCRIPT AVAILABLE
Directed by Amit Gupta Cast Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Kulvinder Ghir, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey
KULINARISCHES KINO BERLINALE 2013 SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2013 DINARD BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL 2013
“FUNNY, ENGAGING AND FULL OF LIFE. AN INDIE GEM!”
Cosmopolitan
Directed by Matt Wolf Featuring the voices of: Jena Malone, Ben Whishaw, Julia Hummer, Jessie Usher
HOT DOCS
2013
LONDON FILM FESTIVAL 2013 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2013
“MESMERISING”
Variety
The Works in AFM: 724 Loews Santa Monica, 1700 Ocean Avenue Tel+ +1 646 384 5951 In attendance: Clare Crean – Head of Sales T: +44 7900 212207 clare.crean@theworksﬁlmgroup.com Steve Bestwick – Sales and Acquisitions Executive T: +1 646 384 5951 steve.bestwick@theworksﬁlmgroup.com
CHINA-HONG KONG FOCUS BUZZ TITLES
Out Of Inferno 3D
Personal Tailor
Personal Tailor
Dir Feng Xiaogang Scheduled for release on December 19, Feng’s latest project marks the director’s return to comedy following last year’s historical drama Back To 1942. The ﬁlm, a loose sequel to his 1997 Dream Factory, revolves around a company that offers a unique service in helping people to live their dream in one day. Long-time Feng collaborator Ge You stars in Personal Tailor along with actress Bai Baihe, who starred in 2011 sleeper hit Love Is Not Blind.
Contact Huayi Brothers annabelle.hao@huayimedia.com
Police Story 2013
Dir Ding Sheng Jackie Chan’s upcoming $30m action title is the highly anticipated reboot of the star’s Police Story series, which kicked off in 1985 and spawned several sequels. In the new ﬁlm, Chan stars as a police ofﬁcer who is taken hostage with his daughter and a group of strangers by a bar owner demanding the release of a long-time prisoner. Liu Ye and Jing Tian also star in the ﬁlm, directed by Ding who worked with Chan on Little Big Soldier. Produced by Chan’s Jackie & JJ Productions, Wanda Media and Starlit HK Int’l Media, the ﬁlm is being readied for a year-end release.
Contact J & JJ International ramychoi@gmail.com The White Storm Urban Games (Below) White Haired Witch from director Jacob Cheung
Urban Games
Dir Robert Brown, Zhang Peng US stunt co-ordinator Brown and China’s Zhang co-directed this extreme-sports action adventure, scripted by Brown and starring Shawn Dou and Michelle Chen. The story follows a parkour specialist attempting to rescue his sister from kidnappers. Co-produced by China Film and Hong Kong’s Media Asia, the ﬁlm is in post.
Contact Media Asia ricky_tse@mediaasia.com
The White Storm
Dir Benny Chan Chan’s crime drama revolves around an ambitious Narcotics Bureau chief inspector, his loyal subordinate and an undercover cop Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Nick Cheung star. Produced by Hong Kong’s Universe Films, the $16m ﬁlm is receiving its world premiere at Hong Kong Asian Film Festival and its international premiere at Rome Film Festival before its mainland China release through Bona Film Group on November 29.
Contact Universe Films Distribution alice_leung@uih.com.hk
Rise Of The Legend
Dir Chow Hin Yeung Marking the first film about legendary kung-fu master Wong Fei-hung in almost 20 years, Rise Of The Legend reunites producer Bill Kong with director Chow and screenwriter Christine To following their collaboration on Nightfall (2012). Eddie Peng plays the role immortalised by Jet Li in the Once Upon A Time In China series, while the cast also includes Sammo Hung, Jing Boran and Zhang Jin. Behind-the-camera talent includes Yuen Woo-ping as action director and Ng Man Ching as cinematographer.
Contact Edko Films chiujulian@edkofilm.com.hk
White-Haired Witch
Dir Jacob Cheung Directed by Cheung and produced by Huang Jianxin, this 3D wuxia epic revolves around the romance between a young sorceress and martial-arts disciple in the twilight of the Ming Dynasty. Fan Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming head the cast of the film, while the creative team includes costume designer Timmy Yip. Backed by Bona Film Group, the ﬁlm has a tentative release date of February 2014.
Contact Distribution Workshop virginia@ distribution workshop.com
Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon
Dir Tsui Hark Tsui’s 3D action adventure grossed a staggering $75.2m on its ﬁrst 10 days of release in China over the National Day holiday period. A prequel to his 2010 hit, Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame, the ﬁlm stars Mark Chao as Dee alongside Feng Shaofeng, Ian Kim, Angelababy, Lin Gengxin and Carina Lau as Empress Wu. It was produced by Nansun Shi and Tsui’s Film Workshop with Huayi Brothers Media Corporation.
Contact Huayi Brothers s annabelle.hao@huayimedia.com I
■ 30 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
Screenings at AFM
November 8th, 3:00pm at Broadway Cineplex 2 1441 3rd Street Promenade
November 10th, 5:00pm at Broadway Cineplex 2 1441 3rd Street Promenade
November 6th, 11:00am & 10th, 3:00pm at Broadway Cineplex 2 1441 3rd Street Promenade
Screenings at AFM
Suite 624 Loews Hotel
China-hong Kong foCus Bill KoNg iNterview
Packing a punch
Hong Kong producer Bill Kong tells Liz Shackleton how he is looking to re-ignite international audiences’ passion for kung-fu movies with his gritty take on the story of a martial-arts icon
Rise Of The Legend
ith romantic dramas and comedies making big bucks at the Chinese box office over the past year, the number of martialarts films in development or production has recently dwindled. Even more rare these days are the kind of hardcore, bone-crunching kung-fu movies that have been Hong Kong’s international calling card since the 1970s. Hong Kong producer Bill Kong hopes to change all that with Rise Of The Legend, charting the early days of kung-fu master Wong Fei Hung. Taiwanese star Eddie Peng plays the iconic folk hero, who lived in Guangdong at the end of the Qing Dynasty, with Sammo Hung playing his mentor. “I wanted to revisit this genre because nobody is making this kind of kung-fu movie any more,” says Kong, who has previously breathed life into Chinese action cinema with films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and Fearless. “We also need to groom the next generation of martial-arts directors. Many new film-makers are coming up in China today, but nobody is looking at action.” Co-produced by Kong’s Edko Films, Irresistible Delta and BDI Films, Rise Of The Legend reunites Kong and Irresistible chief Ivy Ho with the director and writer of last year’s hit thriller Nightfall — Chow Hin Yeung and Christine To. Chow was keen to tackle a kung-fu movie after Nightfall and Kong suggested looking at Wong Fei Hung. The legendary character has been the subject of more than a
W
hundred movies and television series, but none since Jet Li portrayed him in the classic Once Upon A Time In China series almost 20 years ago. Currently shooting in China, the new film also stars young idols Jing Boran and Angelababy, along with martial-arts champion turned actor Zhang Jin, who recently starred in Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster. Cory Yuen and Sammo Hung are overseeing the action sequences.
‘Very raw, very violent’
Kong says he is aiming to restore international confidence in martial-arts movies, the only genre of Chinese films that consistently plays well overseas, but which have experienced some market fatigue over the past decade. The Grandmaster has proved an exception but is an artistic reinterpretation of the genre. Kong is quick to point out the distinctions between mainstream martial-arts movies, and to emphasise the camp into which Rise Of The Legend falls. “There are two types of kung-fu movie — hardcore kung-fu and then the ‘Cirque Du Soleil’ kind. Some of Hero was more in the style of Cirque Du Soleil. But Wong Fei Hung movies have always been very real and this one will be very raw, very violent.” Peng is stepping into some big shoes, playing a character immortalised by Jet Li. But he had already beefed up for mixed martial-arts film Unbeatable last year and has undergone months of training. “He’s a fantastic actor — he is the chosen one,”
‘We are making this movie for the people of today, not the people of yesterday’
Bill Kong, producer
quips Kong, adding that the decision to focus on the character’s early years was a conscious attempt to court China’s youth audience. “We are making this movie for the people of today, not the people of yesterday. We’re not saying that we’re outdoing the classics, but we’re doing it in today’s film language.” Kong has recently had some big hits in China, such as cop thriller Cold War and romantic comedy Finding Mr Right, which grossed $84m. But he remains interested in international markets rather than being distracted by the exploding Chinese market. His upcoming projects also include JeanJacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem, an adaptation of Jiang Rong’s novel about a student living among nomadic tribes that Wild Bunch is selling for European territories. “It has been five years in the making, using three generations of wolves, but it’s in good shape,” says Kong. The 3D production shot in Mongolia and is being tentatively scheduled for release at the end of 2014. Rise Of The Legend should also wrap this month and is targeted for release in the second half of next year. Edko’s sales team will show some footage here at AFM. Kong says he is hoping the results will lead to a revival of the kung-fu genre. “Hopefully this film will get other film-makers excited about kung-fu again. Of course it’s more difficult and expensive to shoot an action film compared to a romantic comedy. But there will always be an s audience for a good kung-fu movie.” n
n 32 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2013
SCREENING TODAY THURSDAY, NOV 7 AT 5:00PM AMC Santa Monica 6 SUNDAY, NOV 10 AT 11:00AM AMC Santa Monica 5
SYNOPSIS: Five friends take off for the deep woods of T exas for an epic party weekend. But once there, they come face to face with a vicious beast that may in fact be the legendary Bigfoot. As they fight for survival, they unlock a shocking truth behind a terrifying myth. DIRECTOR: Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project) WRITER: Jamie Nash PRODUCERS: Mark Ordesky (The Lord of the Rings), Jane Fleming (Frozen Ground), Robin Cowie (The Blair Witch Project), Andy Jenkins GENRE: Horror
SOME VELVET MORNING
SCREENING FRIDAY, NOV 8, 5:00PM Broadway Cineplex 1 SATURDAY, NOV 9, 11:00AM Fairmont 5
SYNOPSIS: When Fred arrives at Velvet's doorstep – suitcases in tow – and tells her that he has finally left his wife to be with her, his hopes for a new beginning are crushed as Velvet is having none of it. What follows is a passionate conversation that reveals the twisted heart of a fascinating relationship. WRITER/DIRECTOR: Neil LaBute (Lakeview Terrace) CAST: Stanley Tucci, Alice Eve PRODUCERS: Tim Harms, Daryl Freimark (Hairspray), Michael Corrente, Trent Othick, David Zander (Spring Breakers) GENRE: Drama
CHRISTIAN DE GALLEGOS HEAD OF SALES AFM OFFICE LOEWS HOTEL | SUITE 617 +1.424.278.4224 CHRISTIAN@IFTSALES.COM
/OFFICIALMILLENNIUMFILMS
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Loews Hotel
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Suite 537
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1700 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica
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310-656-2304
/OFFICIALMILLENNIUMFILMS
/MILLENNIUMFILMS
Loews Hotel
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Suite 537
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1700 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica
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310-656-2304
/OFFICIALMILLENNIUMFILMS
/MILLENNIUMFILMS
Loews Hotel
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Suite 537
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1700 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica
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310-656-2304
/OFFICIALMILLENNIUMFILMS
/MILLENNIUMFILMS
Loews Hotel
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Suite 537
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1700 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica
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310-656-2304
ScreeningS
edited by Paul Lindsell paullindsell@gmail.com
AFM theAtreS
AMC SAntA MoniCA
1310 3rd Street Promenade, at Arizona Avenue
loewS SCreening rooMS
1700 Ocean Avenue — third floor
BroAdwAy Cineplex
1441 3rd Street Promenade, just north of Broadway
oCeAn SCreening rooM
1401 Ocean Avenue, at Santa Monica Boulevard
douBletree SCreening rooM
1707 4th Street, enter on lobby level
tunnel poSt SCreening rooM
233 Wilshire Boulevard, at northwest corner of 3rd Street
» Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration. See thefilmcatalogue.com for late changes
FAirMont SCreening rooMS
101 Wilshire Boulevard, enter from 2nd Street
lAeMMle MoniCA
1332 2nd Street, between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boul’d
Market 8:45 cannibal
Suspense. 116mins. Dir: Manuel Martin Cuenca. Cast: Antonio De La Torre, Olimpia Melinte. Film Factory Entertainment. Carlos is the most prestigious tailor in Granada but he’s also a
murderer in the shadows. He feels no remorse, no guilt, until Nina appears in his life. She will make him realise the true nature of his acts and, for the first time, love awakens. Carlos is evil incarnate, unaware of itself. Nina is pure innocence.
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Harris, Joely Richardson, Veronica Ferres, Helmut Berger, Olivia d’Abo, Christian McKay. Beta Cinema. In the early 1830s Niccolo Paganini, the great virtuoso violinist, takes Paris by storm. It is said, in his native Italy, that to play with such virtuosity, Paganini has sold his soul to the devil.
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heart. But a dark secret hangs over their fairytale romance: a group of nobles, whom Angelique overheard conspiring against the monarchy, will stop at nothing to eliminate her.
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belle & sebastian
8:30 Young Detective Dee: Rise of the sea DRagon
easteRn boYs
Action/adventure/martial arts/mystery. 133mins. Dir: Hark Tsui. Cast: Mark Zhao, Angelababy Yang, Carina Lau. Huayi Brothers Media Corporation. The young Dee Renjie arrives in the Imperial Capital, intent on become an officer of the law. Empress Wu, who is at the start of her reign, has sent Detective Yuchi to investigate a sea monster that stalks the city at night. By chance, both Dee and Yuchi fight off the creature when it attacks a ceremonial procession carrying the beautiful courtesan Yin to be sacrificed at a temple to appease the Gods.
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Drama. 128mins. Dir: Robin Campillo. Cast: Olivier Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov. Films Distribution. They come from all over Eastern Europe: Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia… The oldest appear no more than 25. As for the youngest, there is no way of telling their age. They hang around the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. They might be prostitutes. Daniel, a discreet man in his early fifties, has his eye on one of them – Marek. Gathering his courage, he speaks to him. The young man agrees to come and visit Daniel the following day at his place.
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the libeRatoR
Drama/historical. 119mins. Dir: Alberto Arvelo. Cast: Edgar Ramirez, Maria Valverde, Danny Huston. Mundial. Based on the incredible life of Simon Bolivar, the 19th century revolutionary who lit the spark that fuelled Latin America’s struggle for independence.
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Action/adventure/family. 100mins. Dir: Nicolas Vanier. Cast: Felix Bossuet, Tcheky Karyo, Margaux Chatelier, Dimitri Storoge. Gaumont. The encounter between a lonely child and a wild dog caught up in the Second World War.
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“comfort zone”. It takes Julia, his smart, funny, gorgeous new American boss, to shake him from his emotional stupor and force him to re-examine his dull, passionless existence. But with expert Lothario and alphamale office nemesis Drew overtly in pursuit of her, it’s enough to make Bruce want to give up on himself all over again. Can his loyal sister, childhood dance instructor, and crazy new amateur salsa pal help Bruce unshackle his dancing beast, regain his long-lost fury and claim the love of his life?
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partner to participate in a one-off score.
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the infoRMant
inuMbeR nuMbeR cuban fuRY
9:00 angelique
8:45 cannibal
see box, above
the Devil’s violinist
Drama. 122mins. Dir: Bernard Rose. Cast: David Garrett, Jared
Drama. 110mins. Dir: Ariel Zeitoun. Cast: Gerard Lanvin, Nora Arnezeder, Tomer Sisley, Mathieu Kassowitz, Simon Abkarian, David Kross. EuropaCorp. Beautiful, innocent Angelique is given in marriage to wealthy Count de Peyrac, whose repugnant exterior conceals intelligence and wit that win her
Comedy/musical. 100mins. Dir: James Griffiths. Cast: Nick Frost, Rashida Jones, Chris O’Dowd, Olivia Colman. Studiocanal. Poised to sweep the floor at the UK Junior Salsa Championships, 13-yearold Bruce Garrett has fire in his heels and the world at his feet… until a freakish bullying incident robs him of his confidence and his life is diverted down a very different path. So it is that 22 years later Bruce finds himself outof-shape, unloved and well and truly wedged in his
Action/adventure. 96mins. Dir: Donovan Marsh. Cast: S’dumo Mtshali, Presley Chweneyagae, Israel Makoe, Owen Sejake, Warren Masemola. Fortissimo Films. When honest undercover cop Chili Ngcobo and his by-the-book partner, Sello ‘Shoes’ Moshoeshoe are cheated out of a large reward by their corrupt superiors, Chili finds another way of getting the money he feels they deserve. Chili penetrates a cash-in-transit heist gang, and instead of busting them, convinces his
Thriller/action/ adventure. 110mins. Dir: Julien Leclercq. Cast: Gilles Lellouche, Tahar Rahim, Riccardo Scamarcio. SND M6 Group. The extraordinary true story of ordinary Frenchman Marc Duval, moonlighting as a customs informant in Gibraltar. Earning enough extra cash to buy a long-desired boat, helping his family upgrade their lifestyle and the sense of adventure that comes with rubbing elbows with the rough characters involved in drug trafficking seem to be a fair trade-off for spying on his restaurant clients. But suddenly Duval’s life spins out of control as he is caught up in a web of political intrigue and illicit drug trade, quickly becoming a pawn in an international power play among drug lords and rival customs officials patrolling international waters.
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the invoking
Horror/thriller. 82mins. Dir: Jeremy Berg. Cast: Brandon Anthony,
»
n 38 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013
11 NOV
15:00 p.m.
8 NOV
17:00 p.m. 09:00 a.m.
9 NOV
The • LOEWS 1 •
AFM MARKET
The • LOEWS 2 •
F O R
A P P O I N T M E N T S
P L E A S E
di on st ributi
AFM market screening PREMIERE
8 NOV
11:00 a.m.
LOS ANGELES OFFICE | 9229 SUNSET BLVD, SUITE 820 | LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, 90069, TEL: +1 424 288 4822 MOSCOW OFFICE | 6/1, PUDOVKINA ST. | MOSCOW, 119285, RUSSIA TEL/FAX: +7 495 223 0400 | WWW.BAZELEVS.RU
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SCREENING
The • LOEWS 2 •
SCREENINGS
Carson Holden, D’Angelo Midili. Stealth Media Group. After inheriting a house from a family that she never knew, Sam and three friends take a road trip to inspect the remote property. Soon after Sam arrives, old memories come seeping back, while jealousy and unspoken tension between the friends is forced to the surface. Sam soon finds herself unable to tell the difference between reality and horrible visions of brutality she can’t escape, and while her world crumbles around her, she discovers that the current horrors may be tied directly to her past.
Fairmont 2
diagnosed with leukemia, Kora’s world comes crashing down.
Laemmle 1 (screening in 2D)
GrazinG the Sky
Documentary. 85mins. Dir: Horacio Alcala. Cast: Jonathan Moss, Saar Rembout. Latido Films. An exciting perspective for trapeze and circus lovers. In collaboration with Le Cirque Du Soleil.
Fairmont 2
heLL BaBy
McCaniCk
Market 11:00 BaBy BLueS
Thriller/drama/suspense. 96mins. Dir: Josh C Waller. Cast: David Morse, Cory Monteith, Mike Vogel, Ciaran Hinds, Tracie Thoms, Rachel Nichols. Bleiberg Entertainment. When narcotics detective Eugene ‘Mack’ McCanick discovers that a seemingly harmless young criminal, Simon Weeks, has been released from prison, it triggers a firestorm of paranoia and violence. Mack and his partner, Floyd, mercilessly hunt down Weeks for unknown reasons over the course of one long, hot day. The closer Mack gets to his prey, the more we understand that his frenzy stems from a truth from the past, which only Weeks can expose.
Fairmont 1
Horror/thriller/psychodrama. 92mins. Dir: Leong Poh-chi. Cast: Raymond Lam, Janelle Sing, Karena Ng, Kate Tsui, Bo Yu. Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution. When blogger Tian Qing and song-writer Hao marry, Hao buys an old 115mins. Dir: Mario Van Peebles. Cast: Cam Gigandet, Rachael Leigh Cook. Aldamisa International. Hot-stick Navy fighter pilots Tom Craig and Butch Masters are redirected from a routine patrol with special orders from Cutter to blow up an old, apparently abandoned chemical building. They carry out the ordinance but the building is actually full of friendly civilians and scientists in search of a WMD lost since Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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house. Tian Qing likes a doll left by the previous owner. From then on, it’s as if the doll is always watching the newlyweds. Soon, Tian Qing is pregnant with twins. A homeless man who lives at the end of their road warns them to move out of the house as soon as possible.
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competition: he now has to live in a media store for a week. But winning soon becomes a secondary goal. On top of overcoming his terror of enclosed spaces, Raul must confront strange goings on in the night. Something disturbing is stalking the corridors: a malignant being makes Raul fear for his life.
Broadway 4
Taylor. As the backpackers flee, Mick pursues them on an epic, white knuckled rampage across hostile wasteland. Only one will remain to be dragged back to his lair to witness the true magnitude of his monstrosity. And if the last man standing is to have any hope of surviving where no one has survived before, he’ll have to use every ounce of cunning to outwit the man behind the monster, and become every bit as ruthless as the monster inside the man.
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WronG CopS
perFeCt SiSterS
Thriller. 100mins. Dir: Stanley Brooks. Cast: Abigail Breslin, Georgie Henley, Mira Sorvino. Recreation. Psychological thriller based on a true story about two sisters who plot a vicious revenge against their negligent mother.
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WoLF Creek 2
ViraL
proMo reeL
Drama/comedy. 57mins. Films Distribution.
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reD Sky
Action/adventure.
Thriller. 90mins. Dir: Lucas Figueroa. Cast: Juan Blanco, Aura Garrido, Miguel Angel Muñoz. DeAPlaneta International. Twenty-five-year old Raul wins the casting to star in a ground-breaking
Horror/thriller. 106mins. Dir: Greg McLean. Cast: John Jarratt. Darclight. Lured by the promise of an authentic Australian holiday, backpackers Rutger, Katarina and Paul visit the notorious Wolf Creek crater. Their dream Outback adventure soon becomes a horrific reality when they encounter the site’s most infamous local, the last man any traveller to the vast and isolated region ever wants to meet, Mick
Comedy. 82mins. Dir: Quentin Dupieux. Cast: Mark Burnham, Marilyn Manson, Eric Judor, Grace Zabriskie. Le Pacte. A poetic tale revealing the absurd life of a police squad in a nondescript future where crime has all but been eradicated.
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Roberts. Cast: Eva Birthistle, Charity Wakefield, Carlos Acosta, Brian Dick. Imagina International Sales. Two young, strong-willed Scottish sisters, one a leftwing activist, the other a born-to-shop fashionista, take their late father’s ashes to Cuba, the site of many intriguing family legends. Arriving in Havana, the two women promptly lose the ashes and go through a series of misadventures – both romantic and dangerous – to try to retrieve them, making some surprising discoveries along the way about the family ties that hold them together.
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Horror/comedy. 93mins. Dir: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon. Cast: Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Thomas Lennon. Red Sea Media. An expectant couple move into a haunted fixer-upper in New Orleans – a house with a demonic curse. Things spiral out of control and only the Vatican’s elite exorcism team can save them – or can they?
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huntinG eLephantS
Dirty DeaLinG 3D
11:00 BaBy BLueS
See box, above
the BorDerLanD
Action/adventure. 89mins. Dir: Mathieu Weschler. Cast: Sedina Balde. Red Sea Media.
Loews 2
Day oF the FLoWerS
Romantic comedy. 102mins. Dir: John
Action/adventure/ comedy. 98mins. Dir: Christopher Hood. Cast: Michael Madsen, C Thomas Howell, Frida Farrell. Robin Hood Films. Las Vegas. Any given Friday night. The girls of the Sin Pit at the Southpoint Casino are the sexiest dealers in town pumping cards, piling chips and pushing dice at one of the hottest spots around. and the customers are loving every minute of it. One of the favourites is Kora, a beautiful single mom who dotes on her precocious nine-year old son, Josh. When Josh is
Comedy. 107mins. Dir: Reshef Levi. Cast: Patrick Stewart, Sasson Gabai, Moni Moshonov, Gil Blank. Bleiberg Entertainment. Jonathan is a bright 12 year old – perhaps too bright, since everyone picks on him at school, including his teachers. His closest friend is his father, Daniel. The two of them meet up everyday after school when Jonathan visits Daniel during his work hours at the bank. One day, Daniel is involved in a fatal accident at work and the bank refuses to take resposibility for it. Suddenly, Jonathan is forced to cope with losing his father, while preventing his clueless mother from falling into the arms of the wrong man in order to save them from losing their house. With the help of his cranky grandfather Eliyahu, Eliyahu’s wily friend, Nick, and a disgraced, eccentric British Lord, Jonathan comes up with a crazy plan that will help save his family, while getting even with his father’s sleazy former boss: the four of them are going to rob the bank.
Fairmont 1
»
n 40 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013
November 6th, 3:00pm November 9th, 1:00pm at Fairmont 3 at Doubletree 1 101 Wilshire Blvd 1707 4th Street
Screenings at AFM
Screenings at AFM
Suite 624 Loews Hotel
SCREENINGS
the love punch
Comedy/action/ adventure/romance. 94mins. Dir: Joel Hopkins. Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson. SND M6 Group. Retirement at last. Middle aged and divorced company owner Richard Jones is looking forward to a worry free existence as he arrives at his office on his last day of work. Much to his dismay, he discovers that the management buyout of his company was fraudulent. The company is now bankrupt and the employee pension fund – including his own – has been stolen. Enlisting the help of his ex-wife Kate, Richard sets out to track down the shady businessman behind this, Vincent Kruger. Before they know it, Richard and Kate are caught up in a cat and mouse caper across Europe.
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investigator, a gorgeous mystery woman, and the conflicted mysterious captive himself.
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13:00 Afternoon Delight
Market 11:00 tAleS from the DArk 2
minDScApe
Thriller. 99mins. Dir: Jorge Dorado. Cast: Mark Strong, Taissa Farmiga, Brian Cox. Studiocanal. About a man with an extraordinary ability to enter people’s minds and manipulate their memory. When he takes on the case of a brilliant troubled teenager, he winds up in a dangerous game of seduction and betrayal that spirals out of control.
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Horror. 88mins. Dir: Gordon Chan, Kwok Cheong Lau, Teddy Robin. Cast: Fala Chen, Ka Tung Lam. Edko Films. This terrifying horror son of the family is fascinated by her and this attraction will trigger a chain of unexpected events.
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anthology sequel promises to deliver a whole new nightmarish experience. It continues the eerie tradition of its predecessor and brings the audience further to a darker and edgier other-worldly realm.
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convinces her husband to join her in losing weight, but their relationship is put to the test when Alfredo’s programme yields far better results than Carmen’s.
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thought – what if the last unwanted personality remaining actually turns out to be her true identity?
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tAleS from the DArk 2
See box, left
Scenic route
tAppeD
montAnA
miSS zomBie
Horror. 85mins. Dir: Sabu. Cast: Makoto Togashi, Ayaka Komatsu, Toru Tezuka. Celluloid Dreams/Celluloid Nightmares. Turns the walking-dead genre on its head: a rich doctor with his wife and son receive a mysterious large box. It contains a cage with a living undead sitting peacefully inside, along with an instruction manual “Do not feed meat – will become feral” and a gun in case human life is threatened. Miss Zombie becomes the docile servant of the house, endlessly scrubbing the walkaway on her knees. The young
Action/adventure. 105mins. Dir: Mo Ali. Cast: Lars Mikkelsen. The Salt Company. In the mean streets of London’s East End, a former Serbian commando and a 14-year-old boy plot revenge against a powerful crime lord and his ruthless lieutenants. As our heroes prepare to take on their enemies, the boy is mentored in the dark arts of assassination and learns the true meaning of friendship, honour and respect.
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Media Group. In the dark forests of the Pyrenees, an Archaeology PhD student and three friends in search for pieces of art stolen during the Second World War discover a Nazi bunker called ‘Valhalla’. They soon realise that the place is guarded by a hideous beast named Das Kommandant Frank, and find themselves running for their lives.
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Thriller/drama. 90mins. Dir: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz. Cast: Josh Duhamel, Dan Fogler. Premiere Entertainment Group. Stranded on an isolated desert road, two life-long friends fight for survival as their already strained relationship spirals into knife-wielding madness.
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Drama. 105mins. Dir: Allan Ungar. Cast: Michael Biehn, Anderson Silva, Krzysztof Soszynski, Martin Kove, Cody Hackman. Screen Media. A disgruntled teenager, sent to do community service at a rundown karate school, enters an MMA tournament to face the man that killed his parents.
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Comedy/drama. 93mins. Dir: Jill Soloway. Cast: Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Kathryn Hahn, Jane Lynch. Premiere Entertainment Group. Rachel is a quick-witted and lovable, yet tightly coiled, thirtysomething steeped in the creative class of Los Angeles’s bohemian, affluent Silver Lake neighborhood. Everything looks just right – chic modernist home, successful husband, adorable child, and a hipster wardrobe. So why is she going out of her gourd with ennui? Plagued by purposelessness, Rachel visits a strip club to spice up her marriage and ends up meeting McKenna, a stripper whom she becomes obsessed with saving. She decides to adopt McKenna as her live-in nanny, and this bold move unleashes unimagined and colourful waves of change into her life and community. It becomes clear that Rachel is feverishly, desperately trying to save her own sense of who she is.
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An AmericAn terror
the ScriBBler
pArADiSe
pAnzer chocolAte
Horror. 90mins. Dir: Robert Figueras. Cast: Melina Matthews, Ariadna Cabrol, Mark Schardan, Luka Peros, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Corvillo, Joseph Segui, Richard Felix. Stealth
Romantic comedy. 105mins. Dir: Mariana Chenillo. Cast: Andres Alameida, Daniela Rincon. Mundial. Carmen and Alfredo live a happy, quiet life in the suburbs surrounded by friends and family. After Alfredo receives a promotion, the two move away to Mexico City where they immediately feel the social pressure of being overweight in a bustling metropolis full of beautiful people. Taking the initiative, Carmen
Sci-fi/thriller. 86mins. Dir: John Suits. Cast: Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Eliza Dushku, Garret Dillahunt, Gina Gershon, Michael Imperioli, Billy Campbell, Kunal Nayyar, Sasha Grey, Ashlynn Yennie. Imagination Worldwide. Follows a troubled young woman named Suki who confronts her destructive mental illness using an experimental machine called The Siamese Burn, which was designed to eliminate multiple personalities. But as Suki gets closer and closer to being “cured”, she’s haunted by a disturbing
the WonDerS
Mystery/comedy/fantasy. 112mins. Dir: Avi Nesher. Cast: Efrat Gosh, Ori Hizkiah, Yehuda Levi. Lightning Entertainment Group. This story focuses on Arnav, a graffiti artist and bartender living in Jerusalem. Always wearing a mask, he paints at night and yearns for the day that his beloved ex-girlfriend, Vax, will return to him. But when Arnav sees a mysterious stranger forced into an abandoned apartment one night by three bearded men, he becomes involved with a hard-boiled
Thriller. 84mins. Dir: Haylar Garcia. Cast: Taylor Hulett, Jennifer Wilde, Graham Emmons, Louise Macdonald, Joe Abplanalp. Empress Road Pictures. Three teen outcasts decide to trade their nameless and bullied existences for internet fame by exacting a sadistic template for the unthinkable, but in their search for the assault weapons to pull it off they come upon something far darker than even their own gruesome plans.
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BAck in the DAy
Comedy. 90mins. Dir: Michael Rosenbaum. Cast: Morena Baccarin, Michael Rosenbaum, Nick Swardson. Screen Media. Sometimes in order to
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n 42 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013
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SCREENINGS
move forward you have to go back. Jim Owens does just that when he heads home for his high school reunion. In an attempt to relive the glory days with his boys and explore an old romance, he nearly destroys his hometown and friendships.
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ministry. In other words, he is to write the minister’s speeches.
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SCintillA
Cerro torre – A SnowBAll’S ChAnCe in hell
Documentary/action/ adventure. 96mins. Dir: Thomas Dirnhofer. Cast: David Lama, Peter Ortner, Jim Bridwell, Toni Ponholzer. Red Bull Media House. Set against the backdrop of breathtaking Patagonia, David Lama, climbing’s wunderkind, sets out to climb the infamous southeast face of Cerro Torre, a mountain once said to be the most difficult in the world. No one has ever climbed this Needle of Granite in free-climbing style. But this is exactly what David and his partner Peter aim to do.
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Market 13:00 the hAPPetS in the rAinBow ForeSt
CheMiCAl Peel
Horror. 95mins. Dir: Hank Braxtan. Cast: Natalie Victoria. Red Sea Media. A bachelorette party turns into a weekend nightmare as five women lock themselves inside a haunted cabin to escape a mysterious and deadly threat. As the terror spreads, the women must survive by any means necessary – even if it means confronting the ghostly horrors within.
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Animation. 75mins. Dir: Alex Colls. Latido Films. The Happets feel the need to help other animals who are having a lot of trouble surviving, so they decide to go on a mission of solidarity that will take them to Rainbow Forest. There they will find a whole biodiversity in the form romance. 108mins. Dir: Park Hong-su. Cast: Choi Seung-hyun, Han Ye-ri. Showbox/Mediaplex. After his father’s botched espionage mission, North Korean Myung-hoon and his young sister Hyein are sent to a labour prison camp. In order to save his sister’s life, Myung-hoon volunteers to become a spy and infiltrates South Korea as a teenage defector. While attending high school he meets another girl named Hye-in. South Korean Intelligence soon discovers Myung-hoon’s activities and begins tracking him, all the while his own government sends a vicious assassin to eliminate him.
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of Colourettes and Shadows and a dying Rainbow struggling for breath. The Happets are horrified because not only are the Colourettes in danger of death, so is the Rainbow, which is a symbol for them all. Once again they will have to muster all their ingenuity, knowledge and teamwork to save the symbol of dreams and games.
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Emperor Maxentius saw her while out on patrol. Consumed by her beauty, impudence and uncanny talent for languages, he abducted the child, killing her family. The slaughter was witnessed by her young friend, Constantine, who would later become Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
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out oF inFerno 3d
hourly rate. But before long Ana realises she has entered a terrifying dark world of obsession and misery. Kept prisoner in a creepy residence full of antique toys, she must try and overcome the deranged diva Diamantina and her strange daughter Elisa to prevent herself from becoming just another possession in the house of 1,000 dolls.
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Sci-fi/action/adventure/ thriller. 90mins. Dir: Billy O’Brien. Cast: John Lynch, Craig Conway, Antonia Thomas, Jumayan Hunter, Morjana Alaoui, Beth Winslet. AV Pictures. An elite team of mercenaries are chosen to carry out a covert operation deep in the former Soviet State. They must first battle the ferocious armed militia at ground level before descending through a maze of tunnels inhabited by dark, menacing creatures. When the team arrives at an underground laboratory they discover the purpose of their mission: a genius scientist has been genetically splicing alien DNA with human and the results of this revolutionary work must be secured.
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SnAke And MongooSe
i AM Soldier
CineMAnovelS
Black comedy/drama. 89mins. Dir: Terry Miles. Cast: Lauren Lee Smith, Jennifer Beals, Ben Cotton. Double Dutch International. The estranged daughter of a famous, recently deceased French Canadian film-maker undertakes a mission to mount a retrospective of her father’s work.
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Action/adventure/drama. 88mins. Dir: Ronnie Thompson. Cast: Noel Clarke, Alex Reid. SC Films International. Follows Mickey Tomlinson as he undertakes the toughest and most dangerous military training course known to man: SAS selection. Many try to get into the SAS. Only the elite make it.
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Action/adventure. 107mins. Dir: Danny Pang, Oxide Pang. Cast: Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Sinje Lee, Chen Si Cheng. Universe Films Distribution Co., Ltd. On the hottest day in 50 years, a serious fire engulfs a high-rise building in southern China. A gaggle of firefighters with an indestructible enthusiasm are going to save lives.
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QuAi d’orSAy
PArA eliSA
kAtherine oF AlexAndriA
CoMMitMent
the hAPPetS in the rAinBow ForeSt
See box, above
Action/adventure/
Historical. 107mins. Dir: Michael Redwood. Cast: Peter O’Toole, Nicole Keniheart, Joss Ackland, Edward Fox, Steven Berkoff, Jack Goddard. VMI Worldwide. Katherine of Alexandria, brought up as a nomad and living in the desert, was aged just 11 when
Horror/thriller. 80mins. Dir: Juanra Fernandez. Cast: Ana Turpin, Ona Casamiquela, Luisa Gavasa. Jinga Films. Desperate to earn some money, student Ana answers a job advert asking for occasional nanny duties. Arriving at apartment 3B in the town square for the job interview, things couldn’t have gone better either… tea, biscuits, nursery rhymes and a healthy
Comedy. 113mins. Dir: Bertrand Tavernier. Cast: Thierry Lhermitte, Raphael Personnaz, Niels Arestrup, Anais Demoustier, Julie Gayet. Pathe International. Alexandre Taillard de Vorms is tall and impressive, a man with style, attractive to women. He also happens to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the land of enlightenment: France. He is a force to be reckoned with, waging his own war backed up by the holy trinity of diplomatic concepts: legitimacy, lucidity and efficacy. He takes on American neocons, corrupt Russians and money-grabbing Chinese. Enter the young Arthur Vlaminck, graduate of the elite National School of Administration, who is hired as head of “language” at the foreign
Action/adventure. 100mins. Dir: Wayne Holloway. Cast: Jesse Williams, Noah Wyle, John Heard. American Cinema International. The untold story of how Southern California drag racers Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme and Tom ‘The Mongoose’ McEwen combined with corporate giants to change the face of sports and ultimately became the most famous rivalry in racing history.
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Sneezing BABy PAndA
Family. 90mins. Dir: Lesley Hammond, Jenny Walsh. Cast: Amber Clayton. Shoreline Entertainment. When Australian zoologist Marnie Tyler first sees the viral internet sensation Sneezing Baby Panda she knows at once the feisty little cub could save her ailing zoo from closure. Marnie’s quest to find the iconic panda hits a brick wall the moment she arrives in panda country. Dealing with Chinese villagers who’ve never »
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SCREENINGS
seen the YouTube clip and battling aggressive foreign syndicates hell bent on finding the panda first, Marnie eventually tracks him down to a remote mountain breeding centre. But Chi Chi is more than a cub who once sneezed.
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sOulMAte
Supernatural thriller. 100mins. Dir: Axelle Carolyn. Cast: Anna Walton, Tom Wisdom, Nick Brimble. Genesis Film Sales. After a failed suicide attempt, Audrey, a young widow, retreats to a remote cottage, but she is not alone. As she searches for peace of mind, her solitude is disturbed by the cottage’s previous inhabitant.
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William Hurt, Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert, Ciaran Hinds, Bill Hader. Myriad Pictures. Eleanor and Conor are young, in love and eager to start building their life together, when a tragic event threatens to destroy everything that they hold close to their hearts. As they struggle to cope, Eleanor and Conor discover within themselves and each other a strength and a capacity for forgiveness that may keep their love – and dreams – alive.
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Jake and Stevie head to the dense, secluded mountains of West Virginia. Equipped with only their bow and cameras, they have three days to kill a monster buck big enough to grab the attention of a TV network. Once they find the massive animal they look to strike fast. But as the sun sets, they realise they’re not alone. A supernatural force appears to be lurking in the vacant woods… and now they’re the ones being hunted.
Ocean
InsIde Out: the PeOPle’s Art PrOject
esPectrO
Market 13:00 WAltz FOr MOnIcA
tAr
Drama/romance. 90mins. Dir: Edna Luise Biesold. Cast: James Franco, Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, Zach Braff, Henry Hopper, Bruce Campbell. Spotlight Pictures. Based on Pulitzer prize-winning poet CK Williams’ collection of the same name. Takes us on a journey through several decades of American life from CK’s childhood and adolescence in Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s to the early 1980s.
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Drama. 111mins. Dir: Per Fly. Cast: Edda Magnason, Kjell Bergqvist, Sverrir Gudnason. Svensk Filmindustri. Monica, a young, rebellious small-town girl, is determined to make it as a singer in the vibrant 1960s jazz clubs of Stockholm, and
even New York City. Beautiful and sensual, she embarks on the singing career of her dreams. But behind the glamour, Monica struggles to face the dark side of fame and success. As late nights at work and at parties start to consume her life, the walls around her begin to shake.
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best young drivers in the world. As the students are paired up and put through rigorous challenges, Danny falls to the rear of the pack. Tension soars on and off the track and a terrible incident leaves Danny without a racing partner. Facing dismissal from Willow Springs, Danny is forced to team up with a new partner – his rival, Jake Kendall.
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Horror. 115mins. Dir: Alfonso Pineda Ulloa. Cast: Paz Vega, Alfonso Herrera. Darclight. After a brutal rape, Marta, a once successful psychic, becomes a recluse with severe agoraphobia. Fearful the man who raped her will return, she refuses to leave her apartment. But the demon outside becomes no match for the demons that attack Marta within her own home.
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GAGArIn, FIrst In sPAce
BOx cutter WhO KIlled BAMBI?
the VIneyArd
Drama/fantasy/thriller. Dir: James Katz. Cast: Aislinn Derbez, Aurelien Wiik, Alisha Seaton. Galloping Films. Magdalena marries Louis, the owner of a vineyard. Their love affair and cultivation of the vine are interrupted by the arrival of Etienne, Louis’ brother, who ruthlessly takes control of the vineyard. When whispers of a bloodsucking monster swirl around the deaths of villagers, Magdalena suspects that Etienne and the monster are connected, leading her to discover an extraordinary truth about the brothers and the power of the vine.
Ocean
Black comedy. 95mins. Dir: Santi Amodeo. Cast: Quim Gutierrez, Ernesto Alterio, Julian Villagran, Clara Lago, Ursula Corbero, Enrico Vecchi. Imagina International Sales.
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15:00 All cheerleAders dIe
Tom DeNucci. Cast: Tony Todd, David Chokachi, Michael Berryman. Screen Media. The filming of a hit reality TV show goes horribly wrong when a group of small-town cops respond to a call that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase domestic disturbance.
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Thriller. 88mins. Dir: Renzo Vasquez. Cast: Mark Scarboro, IronE Singleton. Worldwide Film Entertainment. A troubled man begins to unravel when he receives boxes of murder ‘souvenirs’ from a serial killer… and all fingers to point to him as the slayer.
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Horror/comedy/thriller. 90mins. Dir: Lucky McKee, Chris Sivertson. Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Brooke Butler, Sianoa SmitMcPhee. Celluloid Dreams/ Celluloid Nightmares. A rebel girl signs up a group of cheerleaders to help her take down the captain of their high school football team, but a supernatural turn of events thrusts the girls into a different battle.
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cAMerA trAP BOrn tO rAce: FAst trAcK
WAltz FOr MOnIcA
see box, above
ArMy OF the dAMned
Horror. 90mins. Dir:
Action/adventure/ drama. 95mins. Dir: Alex Ranarivelo. Cast: Diogo Mordago, Brett Davern, Beau Mirchoff, Tiffany Dupont. American Cinema International. Danny Kreuger heads to the prestigious Willow Springs Racing School with dreams of finishing top of his class and winning a spot on a professional racing team. But when Danny arrives at Willow Springs, he finds himself competing with the
Thriller. 100mins. Dir: Alex Verner. Cast: Paul Thornley, Mark Bonner. 108 Media. Follows a British wildlife film crew armed with the latest camera technology as they pursue local sightings of a rare wildcat in Central Asia.
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Action/adventure/ biography/historical. 113mins. Dir: Pavel Parkhomenko. Cast: Yaroslav Zhalnin, Mikhail Filippov, Olga Ivanova, Vadim Michman. Intandem Films. On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off in a Vostok rocket, becoming the first human in space. The first group of cosmonauts was selected from among 3,000 fighter pilots throughout the Soviet Union. This legendary top 20 became the ace of aces. None of them knew who would fly first and one of them had to deal with much more than just the earth’s gravity.
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Documentary. 70mins. Dir: Alastair Siddons. Cast: JR (Artist). WestEnd Films. Tracks the evolution of the biggest participatory art project in the world, the wildly popular ‘Inside Out’. Travel the globe with French artist JR as he motivates entire communities to define their most important causes with incredibly passionate displays of giant black and white portraits pasted in the street. We witness young and old taking ownership of walls that were previously restricted and in doing so testing the limits of what they thought was possible.
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KIss the WAter
Documentary. 80mins. Dir: Eric Steel. Fortissimo Films. Megan Boyd’s entire world – her life, livelihood, longing and love – was wrapped up in her mysterious fishing flies – bits of exotic feather, fur and fancy tinsel spun around a tiny metal hook. In every strand, in every fibre, there was a story, a fairy tale, a truth – waiting to be unravelled.
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the KnIFe thAt KIlled Me
the hunted
the dIsAPPeArAnce OF eleAnOr rIGBy: hIM & her
Romance. 190mins. Dir: Ned Benson. Cast: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy,
Horror. 88mins. Dir: Josh Stewart. Cast: Josh Stewart, Ronnie Gene Blevins. Cinema Management Group. In an attempt to land their own hunting TV show,
Thriller. 95mins. Dir: Kit Monkman, Marcus Romer. Cast: Jack McMullen, Reece Dinsdale. Stealth Media Group. Paul Vaderman is your average teenager trying to stay under the radar at a
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n 50 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013
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SCREENINGS
new school so as not to be picked upon by the school bully, Roth. When Paul stands up to Roth, Roth asks him to join his gang. At the same time Paul becomes friendly with the school ‘freaks’ led by the charismatic Shane. Torn between the violent Roth and the too-cool Shane, Paul finds himself sucked into a rivalry where there are friends and there are enemies, where there are gangs you do belong to and gangs you don’t, and it’s up to Paul to make a choice.
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money belonged to a dangerous gangster known as Big Red. The three teens are forced to rob a local money-laundering front to settle their debt.
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WilloW CrEEk
95mins. Dir: Mamat Khalid. Cast: Farid Kamil, Jehan Miskin, Peter Davis. Birch Tree Entertainment. Rival gangs fight for pride and ego in a world destroyed by chemical warfare.
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Horror. 90mins. Dir: Bobcat Goldthwait. Cast: Alexie Gilmore, Bryce Johnson. Kaleidoscope Film Distribution. Edge-of-your-seat horror that will make you think twice before going into the woods.
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Bonta 3D
korEnGal
17:00 a PrayEr For rain
Documentary. 87mins. Dir: Sebastian Junger. Cast: Battle Company. Goldcrest Films International. Academy Award nominee Restrepo chronicled the lives of US soldiers in Afghanistan. Using never before seen footage we return to B Company in the Korengal Valley.
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Market 15:00 turninG tiDE
livinG Dark: thE Story oF tED thE CavEr
Horror/thriller. 113mins. Dir: David Hunt. Cast: Chris Cleveland, Matthew Alan, Circus Szalewski, Mark Hayter. New Films International. Based on the popular ‘Ted the Caver’ internet urban legend. Tells the story of two estranged brothers, reunited for their father’s funeral. Attempting reconciliation, the brothers stumble upon the sealed entrance to a nearby cave, where they are slowly forced to confront the true, nightmarish cause of their father’s death.
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Action/adventure. 100mins. Dir: Christophe Offenstein. Cast: Francois Cluzet, Guillaume Canet, Samy Seghir, Virginie Efira. Gaumont. Yann Madec, long-time first mate of Franck Drevil, the star yacht skipper of Global System Insurance, sees his
dream come true when he replaces the injured Franck at the start of the Vendee Globe. Leading the race after nine days, Yann is forced to stop in Cap Verde to repair his broken centre-board. Back in the race, Yann discovers a stowaway on board, a Senegalese teenager named Moussa.
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MErCury FaCtor
thE lookalikE
Action/adventure/thriller. 115mins. Dir: Richard Gray. Cast: John Corbett, Justin Long, Gina Gershon, Jerry O’Connell, Scottie Thompson, Gillian Jacobs, Luis Guzman. Arclight Films. When Sadie’s death jeopardises a major deal, Bobby and Frank set out to find a replacement. a lookalike to fool the big guns into paying big bucks.
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Thriller. 114mins. Dir: Luca Barbareschi. Cast: Luca Barbareschi, Jingchu Zhang. Rai Trade. The story of a crime set in Hong Kong, about a gang whose shady counterfeiting operation is ultimately thwarted by the police. At the same time, a passionate love story between a beautiful Asian woman and an Italian man whose business revolves around spoiled food.
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connection. Aided by plentiful doses of alcohol, drugs and sex, they stumble precariously through tree-lined culde-sacs as they struggle to understand their own confused emotion.
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Easternlight. Zilong Chen is an undercover police officer deep within the ranks of one of China’s most ruthless underworld gangs. The leader of the gang, Xiong, has made it his priority to weed out the government infiltrators in his midst. Struggling to keep his family together and his identity concealed, Chen is torn between two worlds. Upping the stakes, as Chen’s undercover comrades are being dealt with, one by one, Chen fears his days are numbered. Now he must risk everything to take down the organisation.
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Drama. 93mins. Dir: Ravi Kumar. Cast: Martin Sheen, Kal Penn. GFM Films. Tells the true story of the world’s largest industrial accident that was responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 people in and around the city of Bhopal, India.
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a thouSanD tiMES GooDniGht
Drama. 120mins. Dir: Erik Poppe. Cast: Juliette Binoche, Nikolaj CosterWaldau, Lauryn Canny, Adrianna Cramer Curtis, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Larry Mullen Jr. Global Screen. Rebecca is one of the world’s top war photographers. She must weather a major emotional storm when her husband refuses to put up with her dangerous life any longer.
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Animation. 80mins. Dir: Leo Lee. Cast: Sarah Natochenny, Jessica Paquet, Veronica Taylor. Golden Network Asia. Peanut Planet is suffering from severe droughts, which is affecting the growth of the Bonta cactus plants that have fed the people for generations. Baraboo, a city in the desert, is particularly affected by the climate change. Young Boca is a well-known troublemaker in Baraboo. One day, he has a vision of the miraculous Bonta Grove that could save the city. When nobody believes him, he is determined to prove them wrong. Boca sets out on a journey with his best friend, the timid Neepop, hitching a ride on the floating boulders of Black Magnet Valley.
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ExiStS
turninG tiDE
See box, above
alMoSt huMan SlEEPinG arounD
Palo alto
Drama. 100mins. Dir: Gia Coppola. Cast: Emma Roberts, James Franco, Val Kilmer. Pathe International. Trapped in sheltered suburban affluence, Teddy, April, Fred and Emily search for both cheap thrills and meaningful
Comedy. 100mins. Dir: Leslie Greif. Cast: Jesse Bradford, Michael McKean, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Herb Nanas. Red Sea Media. A screwball sex comedy following two couples and their 10 rules to a happy healthy and open relationship.
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WE Gotta GEt out oF thiS PlaCE
SPECial iD
Action/adventure/ Martial Arts. 115mins. Dir: Clarence Fok Yiuleung. Cast: Donnie Yen, Andy On, Kun Yang.
Thriller/suspense/drama. 91mins. Dir: Simon Hawkins, Zeke Hawkins. Cast: Mackenzie Davis, Logan Huffman, Jeremy Allen White, William Devane, Jon Gries, Mark Pellegrino. Lightning Entertainment Group. With his best pal Bobby and his girlfriend Sue getting ready to leave town for college, troublemaker BJ steals money from his boss, Giff, so he can treat his friends to a wild weekend of partying. Unfortunately, the stolen
Horror. 80mins. Dir: Joe Begos. Cast: Graham Skipper, Josh Ethier, Vanessa Leigh. WTFilms. Mark Fisher disappeared from his home in a brilliant flash of blue light almost two years ago. His friend Seth Hampton was the last to see him alive. Now a string of grisly, violent murders leads Seth to believe that Mark is back, and something evil is inside of him.
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Horror. 81mins. Dir: Eduardo Sanchez. Cast: Dora Madison Burge, Chris Osborn, Samuel Davis, Roger Edwards, Denise Williamson, Brian Steele. International Film Trust. Five friends take off for the deep woods of Texas for an epic party weekend. But once there, they come face to face with a vicious beast that may in fact be the legendary Bigfoot. As they fight for survival, they unlock a shocking truth behind a terrifying myth.
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FavEla
aPokaliPS x
Action/adventure/ martial arts/sci-fi.
Action/adventure. 95mins. Dir: Ernie Barbarash. Cast: Michael Jai White, Neal McDonough, Laila Ali. Moonstone Entertainment. The first installment in an action franchise, entitled Codename: Falcon. The »
n 52 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013
SCREENINGS
Room 214, Loews santa monica Beach hoteL, 1700 ocean avenue, santa monica, caLifoRnia 90401 Editor Wendy Mitchell, wendy. mitchell@screendaily.com, +44 7889 414 856 US editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@ gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Chief reporter Andreas Wiseman, andreas. wiseman@screendaily.com, +44 7713 086 674 Production editor Mark Mowbray, mark. mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Sub editors Paul Lindsell, Jamie McLeish Commercial director Andrew Dixon, andrew. dixon@screendaily.com, +44 7595 646 541 Sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260 VP sales and business development, North America Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@ gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 International sales consultant Ingrid Hammond, ingridhammond@mac.com, +39 348 5165 631 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 333 148 Festival & events manager Mai Le, mai.le@screendaily. com, +44 7734 967 324 Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford, alison. pitchford@screendaily.com Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam Printer Sinclair Printing, Los Angeles Screen International London 101 Finsbury Pavement, London EC2A 1RS, UK Tel: +44 20 3033 4267 Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 1604 828 706 help@subscribe.screendaily. com Market
franchise will centre around former Marine John ‘Falcon’ Chapman, a dark anti-hero driven by guilt and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who will destroy himself unless given something else to destroy – a useful weapon-of-lastresort for the US State Department.
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that awaits them.
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hEAVEnLy SWOrD
finD mE
Supernatural thriller. 89mins. Dir: Andy Palmer. Cast: Kathryn Lyn, Cameron Bender. Worldwide Film Entertainment. Before boxes are unpacked in their new home, newlyweds find themselves playing a very creepy game of hide and seek.
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fLy COLt fLy
Action/adventure/ animation/fantasy. 83mins. Dir: Gun Ho Jang. Cast: Alfred Molina, Anna Torv, Thomas Jane. TriCoast Worldwide. Based on the best-selling game ‘Heavenly Sword’, developed by Sony Entertainment for PS3. Nariko’s clan has long protected the Heavenly Sword, a god’s blade of immense power that drains its wielder of their life force. A power-hungry ruler known as the evil King Bohan seeks to obtain the sword to gain its devastating power. As the impending apocalypse nears, how long can Nariko resist the sword’s deadly curse?
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Fischer, Emily Osment, Missi Pyle, John Corbett. American Cinema International. A teenager diagnosed with scoliosis navigates her way through her formative years.
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17:00 thE PriESt’S ChiLDrEn
OnE SquArE miLE
Comedy. 93mins. Dir: Vinko Bresan. Cast: Kresimir Mikic, Niksa Butijer, Marija Skaricic, Drazen Kuhn, Jadranka Dokic. Wide. Convinced that he is behaving in a righteous
manner, because “even the Pope is against the use of condoms’, Don Fabijan, a Catholic priest in a small town on a Dalmatian island, starts puncturing condoms which the god-fearing newsstand salesman Peter sells.
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Drama. 100mins. Dir: Charles Olivier Michaud. Cast: Richard Jenkins, Kim Basinger, Cam Gigandent, Kelly Blatz. Meyers Media Group. Inspirational comingof-age story of a young athlete living on the wrong side of the tracks hoping to change his life, who comes under the guidance of an older coach who has been reclusive since the death of his wife and son. The film celebrates the endurance of the human spirit.
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tOrmEnt
Documentary. 80mins. Dir: Adam Gray, Andrew Gray. Cast: Colton-Harris Moore. Stealth Media Group. Teenage outlaw Colton Harris-Moore, who had never been on a plane before, hot-wired a Cessna and flew over 600km before crashing in a field and vanishing into the wilderness. That was only the beginning.
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thE PriESt’S ChiLDrEn hiDE AnD SEEk
See box, above
Thriller. 107mins. Dir: Huh Jung. Cast: Son Hyun-joo, Chun Mi-sun, Moon Jung-hee. Finecut. A horrific thriller about a man with a guilty conscience who visits his brother’s place when he’s reported missing.
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thE SnitCh CArtEL
jOhn DOE: VigiLAntE
gAmE Of ASSASSinS
Action/adventure/ horror. 85mins. Dir: Matt Eskandari. Cast: Bai Ling, Warren Kole, Dustin Nguyen, Jamie Ray Newman. Epic Pictures Group. In a sunken castle underneath the earth, five strangers wake. They have no food. No memory. No water. And no way out. They must band together for the sinister adventure
Thriller. 90mins. Dir: Kelly Dolen. Cast: Jamie Bamber. Little Film Company. Convinced the justice system needs to change, one man stands up to protect society from violent crime. How does he do it? By killing people. Lots of people.
Ocean
Action/adventure. 106mins. Dir: Carlos Moreno. Cast: Manolo Cardona, Tom Sizemore. Premiere Entertainment Group. The real life story of Andres Lopez Lopez, aka ‘Florecita’ during his years involved with the Colombian Cartel, aka ‘Cartel Norte del Valle’.
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Horror. 80mins. Dir: Jordan Barker. Cast: Robin Dunne, Katie Isabelle. Filmax International. Newlyweds Sarah and Cory Morgan have decided to take a relaxing holiday with Cory’s seven-yearold son Liam to try and smooth over some of the teething problems Liam is having with his new Mom. Despite the idyllic location of Cory’s isolated and luxurious country house, the family soon realise they have made a mistake in going there: someone’s been using the house in their absence.
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from Japanese invaders. When the death cult opens a branch in China and starts buying local children, he sets out to save them and avenge his brother. But first he must defeat their three greatest warriors in a battle to the death.
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19:00 EtErnity
thE WrAth Of VAjrA
thirD PErSOn
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Drama. 90mins. Dir: Jeff Probst. Cast: Jenna
Drama/romance. 130mins. Dir: Paul Haggis. Cast: Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, Olivia Wilde. Corsan. Follows three key storylines, in three different cities, that are all interconnected.
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Martial arts. 110mins. Dir: Wing Cheong Law. Cast: Yanneng Aka Xing Yu Shi, Steve Yoo, Hyunjoon Nam, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Yasuaki Kurata. Media Asia Distribution. In 1930s Japan, a death cult working with the Imperial Army buys children and trains them as deadly assassins. When eight-year-old Vajrasattva accidentally kills his own brother in a fight for food, he makes a secret oath to take revenge. As an adult, he emerges as the cult’s best assassin, returning to China where he joins the Southern Shaolin Temple to protect his people
Sci-fi, mystery. Dir: Alex Galvin. Cast: Elliot Travers. Galloping Films. Richard Manning is a police detective, taking part in a futuristic computer game. Instead of virtual reality, games in the future will allow people to be completely transported into the game, body and soul. As soon as they win the game, they return to the real world. In this game Richard is investigating the most difficult murder case of his career.
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Fantasy/action/ adventure. 112mins. Dir: Oleg Stepchenko. Cast: Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng, Alexey A. Petrukhin. Event Film. London, 1713. English cartographer Jonathan Green sets out on a journey to map the uncharted lands of Transsylvania.
Ocean
n 54 Screen International at the AFM November 7, 2013